DeBoer, Spott lean on each other through ‘family’ bond after tragedy | NHL.com

EDMONTON — Pete DeBoer was crushed.

There he was, sitting in front of a Harvey’s hamburger joint in Kitchener, Ontario on Sept. 1, 2002, just down from a local hospital. He’d hit rock bottom. His gut churned. He was a lost soul, looking for answers that weren’t there.

His wife, Sue, was a week away from having twins. Or so they thought. During a routine checkup, it was discovered that one of the unborn babies had died from complications. Doctors would need to perform emergency surgery if there was any chance for the second to be saved.

This was going to be one of the best times of the DeBoers’ lives. Now it was one of the worst. He didn’t know how to handle it. Given the situation, who would?

“That was a low point for sure, in life,” the coach of the Dallas Stars told NHL.com in an emotional sit-down interview this week. “And now that you bring up the situation, I remember it like it was yesterday. My wife’s in the hospital. I’m sitting there. My family is in Windsor, four or five hours away.

“The despair … it’s overwhelming.”

If ever Pete DeBoer needed someone to lean on, to rely on, to help rescue him from this dark and lonely place, this was the time.

That person was Steve Spott. To this day, it still is.

If that name sounds familiar, it should. Spott served as DeBoer’s assistant with Plymouth and Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League, the San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights and, now, the Dallas Stars. Together, they have helped the Stars get to within six wins of a Stanley Cup, a quest that will continue when Dallas hosts the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the 2024 Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS) with the best-of-7 series tied 2-2.