This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/08/09/sports-rush-ed-belfour-in-good-spirits/
Ed Belfour’s goaltending propelled the Dallas
Stars to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup win. He formed a unique bond
with that team’s coach, Ken Hitchcock. Now the club has rehired
Hitchcock in hopes of returning to an elite level. In this video
interview, Belfour offers his feelings about his former coach coming
back and why Hitchcock might be even better this time around. The Eagle
also talks about a team he has assembled and the work they have been
doing to create a North Texas distillery to be called Belfour Spirits.
Videographer Dave French and I did this interview in
Louisville, Kentucky where we were recording images of the exchange and
refinement of ideas related to the development of the distillery. I
observed elements analogous to the Belfours’ sporting backgrounds (Ed’s
son Dayn, also a former goaltender, is his partner in the venture, as is
his daughter Reaghan) . Firstly, they truly tried to assemble a team
and let them play their positions. The Belfours didn’t pretend to know
everything (although they have certainly done their homework on the
industry), but they did try to have a good representation of the diverse
factors that go into creating a distillery from scratch. Those included
building design and construction, event space planning, branding and
marketing, production workflow, and finance.
I also thought about how Ed Belfour approached the game of hockey. He
had a reputation for paying close attention to details, wanting to keep
on top of everything from the sharpness of his skates to new techniques
other goaltenders had adopted around the league. He approached the
distillery business the same way. Everyone we talked to at the meetings
agreed that he was keen to make sure nothing fell through the cracks.
Architect Wayne Estopinal, who describes himself as a “detail freak,”
viewed Ed’s approach as a positive.
“I
think that’s helped a lot,” he told me. “If we had a guy who just threw
out a big idea and left it to everybody else to implement it, for them
it’s kind of a hollow feeling. You want somebody engaged and he
certainly is.”
They came out of their meetings knowing what they wanted
and how much it might cost, and next steps will include figuring out
financing it and what to do first. It’s probably similar to building a
hockey team, come to think of it. Stars fans will no doubt hope both
Belfour and his former boss will experience success with their new, yet
in many ways familiar, teams.
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