Frisco has come a long way since Ben Bishop was a senior at Frisco High School.
Frisco was a one-high school town, now it seems like a new high school pops up every other week. The toll road ended at Frisco and it wasn’t a hot bed for corporate headquarters and sports venues.
It was a simpler time for a now growing city and his time with the now-defunct Texas Tornado in the North American Hockey League has a special place in Bishop’s memory.
“It was a really neat year, I would say it was one of the best years of my life,” Bishop said. “I’ve always talked about how great Dallas and Frisco was. And to be able to call it home is exciting.”
Twelve years later, Bishop is amongst the thousands looking for a house in the area after he signed with the Dallas Stars on May 12. Unlike others, he shouldn’t have much trouble with financing after signing a six-year, $29.5-million contract.
And Bishop is only in that situation because of his first stint in Frisco.
When he left St. Louis after his junior year of high school, he hoped his time with the Tornado would lead to a college opportunity, but never knew it would lead to the NHL.
“It might be everything, to be honest,” Bishop said. “I got drafted into the USHL by Tri-Cities and I went to that camp and got cut from the team there and came down here to be the goalie down here.”
“If we didn’t have that good team I could have just been another goalie in the pack there and you never know,” Bishop said. “Maybe you don’t get drafted. (This contract) is probably one of the biggest stepping stones of my career, but in a way it all started in Dallas a long time ago.”
Bishop’s name had been linked to Dallas for a while and it just seemed like it would be a matter of time before he wore victory green. It almost happened at the NHL draft last year, but Stars general manager Jim Nill and Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman couldn’t come to a final deal.
“We’ve been watching Ben for a while,” Nill said. “There is (only) so many elite goalies in the league and Ben is one of them. When you have a chance to acquire one of those goalies it became a priority for us.”