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Everyone knew that the Dallas and Detroit conference finals series was going to be a good one. And so far, neither team has disappointed.

There was the convincing Game 1 win by the Red Wings. There was that great Game 2 comeback win by Dallas. Game 3 had both teams slugging it out to a 5-3 barnburner. Game 4 nearly saw the most unlikely of comebacks by Dallas.

Yes, the play has been at times both physical and graceful. There has been plenty of cautious, defensive play. And, to make things interesting, they even traded rushes during most of Game 3.

Osgood and Belfour have dueled to a near-draw. Hatcher, Ludwig, and Matvichuk have been parting the great Red and White seas with punishing, physical play.

The Wings' grind line of Maltby and Draper have been a thorn in every Star's side. Then, of course, there's the heroic Marty Lapointe. This guy sure does have the hot hand for Detroit.

Lapointe scored and sealed away the Game 3 victory. He also took part in the unraveling of Ed Belfour during Game 4. Hopefully, the guy can still have kids after that vicious slash to the groin by Eddie the Eagle.

Coach Scotty Bowman has masterfully called the Detroit game up to this point. And, Ken Hitchcock appears to have mostly flattened out the learning curve when it comes to coaching in the playoffs.

Both teams now refer to each other with a cautious respect. Dallas recognizes Detroit's power, and the Stanley Cup win, knowing Detroit is still the true champion for now. And Detroit respects Dallas for the great team they are, now a legitimate threat to Detroit's throne.

This series has been everything a fan could want and more. It had no other choice but to be that way.

Why is that, you ask? Well, because the Dallas Stars have always been the little brother waiting to get the hand-me-downs from the Big Brother Detroit Red Wings. Both franchises have unusual ties to each other.

The Dallas Stars historically have had very bad luck at Joe Louis Arena. We like to call it "The Curse at the Joe" around here. For some unknown reason, the Stars franchise has a suspect record of 1-16-2 at The Joe since moving to Dallas from Minnesota.

Obviously, the Stars were a team in waiting back then. They had a Cinderella season in '91, going all the way to the conference finals. But shortly thereafter, the team moved to Big D, and the financially strapped owner forced Bob Gainey to do the best he could with only a few measly peanuts to pay his players.

During this period, the leaner times of the franchise, Dallas routinely faced - and was often beaten by - Detroit. Since the two teams shared the same division, they would meet each other over and over during the regular season.

Dallas was clearly a team in waiting to inherit Detroit's throne. But, it was obvious Dallas had a long way to go to before reaching that opportunity. Loss after loss was endured at The Joe.

Dallas had played Detroit tough last season, and those games definitely served as a watermark for Dallas to see exactly where they were. They were beginning to match up well. Dallas played the Wings better last year than this season, and ended up with a 4-2-0 record vs. Detroit.

In fact, the only victory the Stars ever stole out of Detroit came last year. Dallas won one time, and one time only, 2-1. The date was January 3. Roman Turek was called up as backup netminder, and stood on his head to hold onto the 2-1 win for Dallas.

"We played good tonight but their goalie was pretty hot," Detroit's Martin Lapointe said. "It didn't seem like the puck wanted to go in the net, on the last power play we were all over them and it just didn't go in. He's (Turek) a big goalie, he takes a lot of space and he doesn't allow rebounds. He does a good job of jumping on loose pucks."

The great Curse at the Joe was over! Or so Dallas thought.

Enter this season. In only the fourth game of the year, Dallas faced the Red Wings on the very night that Detroit raised their Stanley Cup championship banner to the roof at Joe Louis Arena. The result? No surprise. Detroit won 3-1.

A month later, the Stars once again faced Detroit at The Joe. Three separate Detroit players scored within 70 seconds to cap off a four-goal first period for Detroit. The result? A 4-2 loss for Dallas.

"I thought that was irrelevant," Stars coach Ken Hitchock said at the time of the three-goal flurry. "We just have too many people in our group who don't believe we can beat this team. Until that attitude changes, or we can find a way to change it, it does not matter. There are too many people in that dressing room who don't think we can beat that team."

Was that a dubious statement, or what?

"It bothers us a little, but we are planning on winning games against other teams and eventually things should even out," Mike Modano said. "We are beating who we should beat. We played these guys hard and strong last year, but I do not think we are doing that this year."

Quite right, Mo. Two games at The Joe, two losses.

A month later, just after Christmas, Dallas and Detroit went at it again. At Joe Louis Arena. Bob Errey, who signed with Dallas after playing parts of three seasons with Detroit, opened the scoring 10 minutes in when he took a centering pass from Pat Verbeek and then buried a shot from the left circle past Osgood.

Sergei Zubov scored again with about six minutes left to tie Dallas with Detroit 2-2. This was the only tie in Detroit in recent memory, and it added another chapter to the Wings-Stars saga when it was Bob Errey, a former Red Wing, who helped steal a little of the Red Wings' thunder. Both teams were tied for first place at that point.

From then on, Detroit was basically chasing Dallas neck-and-neck for the regular season points race. Dallas went on to tie Detroit once more, and then win the regular-season finale in Dallas 3-1. The Stars and Ed Belfour held off a season-high 44-shot onslaught by Detroit to win the game. That victory clinched the Western Conference championship for Dallas. It was late April, and the playoffs were just on the horizon.

"It wasn't so important that we won the conference as much as we beat Detroit," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Detroit was a team we had not beaten this year and we needed to come out and play a good game. I was very happy with our effort and was very pleased with our emotional level. Even though they had a lot of shots, they were mostly from the perimeter."

Its obvious the Stars were using the Red Wings as a watermark. And in a weird way, Detroit was doing the same with the Stars. The Wings had some questions to answer themselves, coming off a championship season. Would they be able to repeat? Dallas was the team to beat.

The regular season series between the two teams ended 2-1-2 in Detroit's favor. Both losses came at The Joe.

The lack of confidence vs. Detroit at The Joe obviously was a problem for this team in the past. It isn't totally unreasonable to think this same problem could be hurting the Stars' chances to pull out of this current Western Conference finals series.

Brent Gilchrist knows what the rivalry is like on both sides. A member of the Stars for over four seasons, Gilchrist signed with Detroit as a free agent before the season and has become a very valuable player for the Wings. Gilly even had his hand in the Game 3 win for Detroit, scoring the first goal of the evening against his old mates.

And, current Stars president Jim Lites has long-standing ties to the Red Wings. Lites still owns a residence in Detroit, and commutes often during the year to visit the wife and kids. "The wife" just happens to be Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch's daughter. I guess it doesn't hurt your position in the franchise to marry the owner's daughter!

But, there is no question that Lites had a VERY valuable role in the building of the current championship team. It was Jim Lites that went to the (then) Soviet Union to hold secret meetings with several talented Russian players. One of the players Lites spent the most time in trying to get moved to the states was a talented newcomer named Sergei Fedorov.

Without Slava Fetisov's help - the deal may never have happened. It was Fetisov who served as interpreter and cultural liason during this turning point in the history of the NHL.

But it was the swagger of Jim Lites that ultimately persuaded Fedorov to defect to the states and sign with the Red Wings. Lites went to Russia with a lump in his throat and a pocket full of cash, determined to secure and sign Fedorov.

In typical American fashion, he bought, bribed, or killed whatever stood in his way. (OK, so that "killed" part may be a bit of a stretch, but you never know with the Russian Mafia!)

Several other "-Ovs" followed Fedorov to the states. Thanks to Jim Lites and Fetisov, a new crop of Russian players entered the NHL.

Nowadays, the most exciting thing Lites gets to do is eat popcorn in the press box next to Bob Gainey as the two men analyze their team. There is no question that the Lites connection permanently bonds the Stars and Wings together in a strange sibling relationship.

The two teams' histories always seem to intertwine. That's why during the pivotal Game 4 the Red Wings "just happened" to plan this to be fallen comrade Vladimir Konstantinov's triumphant return to Joe Louis Arena.

Of course, both teams got very emotional when the arena announcers acknowledged Vlady's presence in the luxury suite. Both teams stood and banged their sticks on the ice in appreciation of this special moment.

The crowd roar was deafening as several Detroit players held back their emotions. The Wings were determined to win one for Vlady. The result? A Detroit win, 3-2. At the Joe.

Of course, there are the family ties in Detroit for several Dallas players. Mike Modano is a Michigan native. So is Shawn Chambers.

Then there is that family known as the Hatchers. Both Hatcher brothers are Michigan natives. And, both the Hatcher's parents and Shawn Chambers parents still live in Sterling Heights on Fairview Drive, the neighborhood the kids grew up in.

Many times the tale was told of how the Hatcher boys and Chambers would play hockey together in the Chambers' back yard.

John Chambers started it by flooding the backyard for Shawn and the local boys.

Eric Hatcher, the Hatcher boys' father, picked up the tradition, and soon built a backyard rink complete with boards.

It didn't take long for all the neighborhood kids to pick up on the rink and begin showing up at the Chambers' and Hatchers' homes for some backyard hockey.

Derian Hatcher was to grow up on these backyard rinks, working hard day after day to develop the skills he uses every day as the Stars' captain.

It is this family tie to Detroit that may make up the mental block Stars captain Derian Hatcher has about winning in Detroit. Where their captain goes, the Stars follow. At any rate, the historical ties must make for some bittersweet memories for the Dallas Stars' Detroit alumni.

Yes, several of the Stars' players still have very deep ties to Detroit. That's why it makes it so hard to live in Hockeytown and be the parents of a Dallas Star.

Since the Western Conference finals began between the two teams, the Hatchers fly a Stars flag from the front of their house. And, John Chambers painted a huge 20-foot Stars logo on his front lawn.

These symbols obviously stand out in a sea of red and white. Some Detroit faithful question their loyalty.

"People ask who you're gonna root for," John Chambers said. "I can't believe they're asking."

So because of a curse, because of some family ties, and because of some shared destiny, the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Red Wings are building this series as one to remember for the record books.

It couldn't have gone any other way.

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