This Is Your Sign To Stop Getting Upset About the Three Stars of the Game

The recognition is a marketing tool at best and you should understand the process before getting bent out of shape

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

Invariably, several times a season someone will send a message or leave a comment on the site with righteous indignation about the selection of that contest’s 3 stars of the game. In an effort to provide some degree of explanation for the process behind the madness and also a way to create some “tap the sign” content for whenever this happens, here we are. 

When you attend a Dallas Stars game, from Bill Oellermann to Jeff K, you would hear something like, “And now here are the three stars of the game as selected by…” with one of the reporters covering the game that night filling in that slot. Sean Shapiro, Mike Heika, Taylor Baird, Mark Stepneski, Saad Yousef, Matt DeFranks, Josh Clark, Robert Tiffin and the list goes on and back into time. 

I was proud to add my name to the list above, even if just for the pre-season game in Cedar Park, when I got to select the three stars as Dallas Stars faced off against Arizona on September 24, 2023.

In the American Airlines Center press box, the selections are due by the seven minute mark of the third period. That might help to explain why sometimes a player who scores late might seem to be in the wrong spot in the three stars. The process in the American Hockey League is a bit different, however, and leads to sometimes wonky outcomes in the record books.

For example, did you know that once the Stars were awarded all three stars in a loss? It was a 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago where Texas led until 51 seconds left in the third. Texas also collected zero stars in a win once, a 6-5 overtime game where Texas actually led until late, Mavrik Bourque scored four assists, Logan Stankoven had a goal and two helpers and Derrick Pouliot had two goals. I’ll also note that was an away game for Texas.

The selection of the three stars in Texas is not done by one individual. At the start of the third period, one of the members of the press box staff passes out slips of paper with 1, 2, 3 down the side. By the 10 minute mark of the third, previously the seven minute mark, those will be collected. Now of course you may already see a problem here: we’ve got nearly 17% of the contest left to go when votes are due. We try to delay as much as we can from the 100 Degree Hockey side, but when the time comes, votes have to go in. This often leads to votes like “GWG” or “Winning Goalie” or even split decisions like “If TX win, 35 TX” (shorthand for Magnus Hellberg).

(Credit: Logan Foust/Texas Stars)

Once votes are tallied, they go to Texas’ broadcaster for thumbs up or modification and are sent down to the game ops staff to pull the awarded players when the game ends. Players are fined a small amount by the League if they do not come back out on the ice for their curtain call during three stars, which is why you get those sheepish quick skates around the goal for away players when called.

Until recently in Texas’ history, the ops department had a habit of modifying the three stars when they bent too far in the direction of the away side. I can recall at least one instance of Texas getting whomped by a 7-1 score and, I believe, lone goal scorer Justin Dowling coming out for an embarrassed third star t-shirt toss. 

This points to the ultimate “tap the sign” argument of this article: The AHL’s three stars selection is a marketing tool, not a statistic that should matter to anyone. It’s a lot better for the home fans to get one last chance to salute their heroes as they depart the bowl than to see three players from their foe get the recognition triumvirate.

But despite my protestations about the marketing only nature of the three stars recognition, we do keep track of historical accolades here at 100 Degree Hockey, and you can view that information here. As you would expect, Travis Morin leads the all-time list by a significant margin, holding nearly twice as many career stars as second-place Curtis McKenzie.