DALLAS, Texas — A blanket in Texas, and in April!?
It's not exactly the first thing you'd pack if you were traveling to the Lone Star State this time of year, but Zoe Hill had no other choice.
For the first time ever, she landed in Dallas on April 12, inbound from Dayton, OH, where a quilt would be of much more use.
It was a trek to the holy land for Hill. The college student and Dallas Stars fanatic has been crocheting a blanket since October when the team played its first game against the St. Louis Blues--and here's the fun part: how the team performs, win or lose, determines which color Hill knits.
The next day? She would attend her very first Dallas Stars game in Dallas.
She's made it to a few away games near Ohio but has never heard a home crowd scream 'STARS!' during the national anthem or the unforgettable 'bing bong' after the team scores.
"I checked my weather app and was like, 'This is no joke.' It's really hot outside!" Hill said with a laugh in front of the American Airlines Center, her Stars blanket draped down the stairs of PNC Plaza.
"I was getting excited while driving here. We saw a picture of Jason Robertson, and I freaked out. It's really cool--and the AAC is much bigger than I thought. I've only seen it on TV! I wanted to see the Mike Modano statue and take it all in."
Hill is a beloved fan in the Stars community. When she began weaving her Stars blanket, she documented her progress online and explained the rules.
"Green is for a win, and white is for a loss—and then overtime wins are in silver, and overtime losses are in black," Hill said. Crocheting the whites and blacks isn't as fun because they mean we lost, but it's all part of the game!"
It's a pretty cool idea that kept Hill at work for months. In pictures online, the blanket looked like a hand towel when it first began; now, it's 82 rows of hockey fate.