NHL: Stars Won't Air Out Tragic Past In Reunion Rafters

For the sake of the game, hardcore Texan hockey fans should remember 3 great shooting Stars. Stars that burned just a little brighter than the rest in their day. Bill Goldsworthy, Bill Masterson and Neal Broten paid their dues to professional hockey and in the end the team they labored for the most paid high tribute to these bleu collar guys.

In a stirring ceremony early this season the Dallas Stars honored all three of these players whose numbers have been retired but today only one jersey hangs from Reunion Arena’s rafters. What’s the deal? Are there skeletons hidden in Reunion closets they don’t want to air out?

All three players were very important figures to the early North Stars franchise, which eventually became our current NHL Dallas Stars. Two, however, were terribly tragic figures indeed. These are the two whose jerseys you won’t see hanging from the Reunion roof.

Bill Goldsworthy was an excellent 50-goal scorer who plied the ice for the North Stars scoring 283 goals over 14 seasons. “Goldy” was wildly popular with the fans due in no small part to his “Goldy Shuffle” performed after most of his goals.

Goldsworthy was one of the first top flight talents to emerge from the North Stars’ lineup during the NHL’s expansion era. Goldy led all NHL scorers in points in the 1967 playoffs and also led the charge to the 200 goal mark after the ’67 expansion.

Goldy played in 5 NHL All-Star games and was selected to play on the Canadian Summit Series Team that upset the Russians in ’72. He was known as a solid team player that could play both ends of the ice and many felt he would have been better had he not had to struggle on so many talent depleted teams with little depth.

Goldy was also hampered by a personal struggle with alcohol that many felt shortened his career. But he was also fighting a deeper hidden problem. Goldworthy’s number was retired in style before a sellout crowd at the Met Center in 1992. Two years later Goldy was diagnosed with AIDS and lost that final battle for his life when he passed away in 1996, at the age of 51, just a few miles from the grounds where he entertained so many hockey fans during his career.

Bill “Bat” Masterson Played his junior hockey in Winnipeg and enrolled at Denver University in ’57. Masterson led his Denver Pioneers to the NCAA championship in ’61 where he was named most valuable player for the tournament and also received All-American honors.

Bill played two years of professional hockey for Montreal farm teams in ’61 and ’62 finishing 6th in AHL scoring in his final season before retiring from hockey to pursue his masters degree in finance at Denver University. While employed at Honeywell he played a little amateur hockey and played for the U.S. national team before a call came from the Minnesota NHL expansion team.

Masterson could not pass up a chance to finally play in the NHL when Minnesota bought his contract and invited him to camp in ’67. He and goaltender Carl Wetzel were the first to sign contracts with the North Stars and despite his 4-year professional layoff from the game Bill made it to the record books when he scored the first goal for his brand new team in a game against the St. Louis Oct. 11, 1967.

“Bat” Masterson was finally realizing his dream at the ripe old hockey age of 29 and probably would not have taken that chance had it not been his home Minnesota North Stars calling. He probably would not have played hockey again anywhere else. Enter North Star tragedy number two.

“Bat” only enjoyed the thrill of NHL play a very short time. In an early January ’68 game against Oakland at the Met Center Masterson skated into the Seals zone with the puck and made a back-handed pass to teammate Wayne Connelly on his right wing. About 25 feet in front of the Seals goal “Bat” lost his footing in the midst of a high sticking crowd and fell backward, striking his head hard on the ice.

Masterson never regained consciousness and died at the Fairview Southdale Hospital 27 hours after his fatal fall. To date Bill is the only player to ever die from injuries sustained during an NHL game. The North Stars lost a quality man and a quality player in the prime of his albeit short professional career. Many in the North Stars’ organization felt they lost a friend and family member that cold January night of ‘68.

Neal Broten skated his way to become one of the most recognized names in professional hockey, even though his popularity was probably never fully understood outside his home state of Minnesota. Broten was one the few hockey players to play most of his life’s hockey in his home state.

Neal played his schoolboy hockey for his hometown Roseau High School team. Broten went on to play at the University of Minnesota where, as a freshman, he led the Gophers to the NCAA championship against North Dakota. His college coach Herb Brooks then selected Broten to the USA Olympic Team that scored the miracle win against the Russians in 1980. This accomplishment in itself set Neal’s name in hockey history without any of the notoriety he was to later gain in his NHL career.

Broten signed his first pro contract late in the ’81 season and was inserted in the Minnesota lineup in time to participate in the North Stars’ aborted Stanley Cup attempt against the New York Islanders. Neal was runner up Rookie-of-the-year in ‘81-82, scored 405 goals in his first 5 seasons and was voted to the NHL All-star game in ’83 and ’86.

The miracle season of 1991 saw Neal and his North Stars back in the Stanley Cup but it wasn’t until after moving to Dallas with the Stars that the 15-year veteran finally got his name on the trophy after Dallas’ Bob Gainey dealt him with Corey Millen to the New Jersey Devils for the ’95 season.

Today Neal Broten’s retired #7 flies from the Stars’ Reunion Arena rafters mostly because he is the only one of the three that actually played for the current Dallas Stars. Goldy and Bat’s numbers won’t hang for display but out of respect for their accomplishments and careers their numbers will remain retired and won’t be worn again by any other Star.

The Dallas Stars don’t really have any dirty laundry to hide, but they do have some tragic past attached to some of the most revered and honored heroes of their past. A past that won’t be aired out in Reunion Arena rafters, but a past that hardcore Texan NHL fans should know about and remember for the sake of the game.