In his first four seasons as a center with the Montreal Canadiens, they brought The Cup home four times. Twelve NHL seasons later he had yet to miss a game. 964 consecutive hockey games. It's the equivalent of Troy Aikman winning the Super Bowl in his first four seasons, and not missing and NFL game from 1989 to 2041. give or take a playoff season or two. Not to take anything away from Ripkin's baseball record, but Cal didn't get checked hard into the boards every night at shortstop. Doug Jarvis did, yet managed to play 964 games of professional hockey in a row. The Jarvis family is very close. Linda is an extremely positive and enthusiastic presence, and is a substitute teacher in Coppell. Laura, 13, and Landry, 10, are both involved heavily in youth activities. Son Landry is even following Dad's ice edges as a junior-level hockey player. And of course, he hasn't missed a game this season.

YST: Tell us about where you grew up.
"I grew up in Brantford, Ontario, a town of 60,000 people, an hour from Toronto. That's where sports started for me at a very early age. Especially hockey, where as soon as you learn to walk you learn to skate."

YST: What were your family experiences like growing up?
"I think we were a typical family. I have an older brother, also involved in minor sports. In the winters we played hockey. In the summers we played baseball. Mom and Dad were very supportive of us, encouraged us to participate in sports and get the enjoyment out of it that we could. They come to visit me in the winter and we go up in the summer. It's not enough but when you live this far apart it has to do. Certainly from our point of view, the more we see Grandma (age 75) and Grandpa (age 82) the better."

YST: Who was the most positive influence in your life?
"I've always looked at my Dad as a real steady force in my life. When I approach my life and kids I reflect on the things he taught me and the example he set, always real encouraging, supportive, consistent. He's somebody I certainly want to emulate as a father, a person."

YST: Recall one fond childhood memory.
"We were half city, half country growing up. My dad's business was farm implements. We had a farm, where we raised cattle and sold crops, yet we lived in the city. I had the best of both worlds in that regard. Being a city kid involved in the agricultural community was really unique. There's never a day off. As a kid I would go to school all week and when Saturday would come, instead of goofing off, my dad would say come on, let's go check the fences, or do some work at the farm. So it was a unique life, and looking back , a good life, with my dad instilling a good work ethic in us."

YST: How about a "not-so fond" childhood memory?
"I don't really have any that are 'not-so fond'. The things I remember well are having the chance to play out on an outdoor rink with the snow falling, and finger s and toes that are numb from the cold. We would get home from school and grab our skates and hockey sticks and play until dark. When the street lights came on it was our signal that it was time to go home. That was our social circle and our start in the game of hockey. We spent so much of our time outside. That's where we wanted to be. Maybe the space was there, the parks, forests were there to go explore in. Whereas when you're living in the suburbs you don't have those kinds of opportunities."

YST: What is your proudest academic acheivement growing up?
"School was never a problem with me, even when I got to the level of playing Junior A Hockey which is one level below professional I was going to college. I enjoyed the tradeoff of playing hockey at that level, while continuing with my education. Going to the University was a good break from the hockey life, and playing hockey was a good break from the University life. They really fit together well for me. My parents were really big on education. You weren't going to forego an education to single-mindedly pursue a hockey career. If hockey could fit in with your schooling, then great."

YST: Where did you and Linda meet? Describe the "first date".
"At a church youth camp, when we were 18. We had a lot of mutual friends and eventually we hooked up and started going out and got married at 27. Our first date was probably to a hockey game, but I really can't recall."

YST: What is one thing your kids do that you really like?
"They're willing to try a lot of different activities. Laura's involved in middle school athletics, piano, and foreign language. She used to be heavily involved in gymnastics and now she isn't. As parent's we enjoy watching them enjoy what they're doing, having fun with it."

YST: What is one thing your kids do that really bug you?
"They're both different. Our daughter is very serious about everything she does. At times you wish she wasn't so serious so she could maybe enjoy them more and not need to be perfect in what she does. Our son, on the other hand, is very relaxed and easy going. At times you wish he would try to become more disiplined with his routine. I'm sure all parents see that in their kids. They're all unique, with strengths and weaknesses and you love them all the same."

YST: Tell us about your NHL career.
"It started in 1975 with the Montreal Canadians, which at that time was a powerhouse of a team & I was fortunate to catch a spot with them coming out of Junior A Hockey in Peterboro, and spent 7 years with them. Probably the highlight of those years was that the first 4 years were Stanley Cup years so I was able to jump into that degree of excellence early in my career. You learn a lot from excellence and playing with the best. I went from there to Washington for three years and finished up with the Hartord Whalers for the last two years."

YST: Did you prefer to play finesse hockey, or was your style more aggressive or otherwise?
"I ended up taking on the role of a defensive kind of player. Our job, primarily was to check the finesse players, to keep goals off the scoresheet. Every game we were assigned the other teams top offensive line, and if we kept them off the scoresheet we felt we did our job and hopefully someone on our team had scored enough so that we could win."

YST: Your NHL career has been likened to that of baseball's Cal Ripkin. How do you feel about the comparison?
"That's fine. You're talking about longevity. When you talk about a consecutive game streak, it's not something you set out to do. You just play one game at a time. That's how it was. I didn't think about it. I just came to work because I like playing the game, and I came every night to play, and before I knew it it added up to twelve consecutive seasons. I never really had anything that would keep me from perfoming the way I knew I had to perform."

YST: Who were some of the players you enjoyed playing against?
"Probably the tough players, Bobby Clark with Philadelphia, Darrell Sitner with Toronto, early in my career...then later in my career Wayne Gretsky, or Mark Messier. You know they were all top offensive players who on any given night could make you look pretty bad if you hadn't come ready to play."

YST: Who were some players you hated to play against?
"It wasn't so much that I hated playing against anyone in particular. At this stage you prefer to think they hate playing against you."

YST: How did you transition to coaching ?
"I always knew that when I got done playing, coaching was something I'd want to do. I enjoyed watching hockey, even when I wasn't playing and observing the strategy side of it. I had an interview in Minnesota and was hired as an assistant coach and it kept me involved. I've been with it ever since."

YST: Are there any players no longer in the Stars system who you really miss working with ?
"I've enjoyed working with all of them."

YST: What is your take on the fact that last season 's Coach Of The Year is no longer employed in the NHL?
"It seems many times the players are in transition and the coaches as well. It's just the nature of the business."

YST: Where do you hope your coaching career takes you?
"I deal in the present. I enjoy the people I work with. We have a great staff, a good hockey team, and this is what I'm happy with right now."

YST: How long have you lived in Coppell?
"Since we came down with the team, so we're heading into our fifth year."

YST: Aside from the obvious proximity to work, what reasons influenced your family's decision to settle in Coppell?
"The first question was where was the practice rink was going to be. Then it was where are the best schools for the children? Coppell was a place we were told we would want to look at. So that's how we ended up here."

YST: If you could change or improve on thing in Coppell, what would it be?
"The town makes it very easy to do whatever you choose to do as a family. The kids were able to fly right into school and activities. We found a church right away. It was a quick transition. I guess the one thing I would say would be the amount of park space and green land. We miss the open space."

YST: How do you stress the value of education to your own children?
"I'd say we just encourage them to do a good job, take it seriously, be disciplined about it, and stress it's importance."

YST: Describe your perfect day with your family.
"When we have time, it's being able to sit down as a family and eat a meal together. Being able to watch Landry play hockey, or Laura play volleyball. Going rollerblading as a family. The fact that it doesn't happen very often, that when we can be together as a family anything we do together makes it a fun day."

YST: Describe the coach that made the biggest impact on you as a kid. What positive techniques did he impress upon you?
"I think every coach at every level had something to say. A peewee coach I had said 'The best place to shoot is six inches off the ice on the stick side of the goalie.' Whatever else I remember about him, I remember that was the thing he said. Another coach may have said that the best thing you can do is come ready to play, ready to give your best on the ice. I think coaches have a tremendous impact. Each child will remember something about their coach at every level,whether it is skill development,character development, or something."

YST: What do you feel is something a youth coach should not do when coaching young athletes?
"The first premise is that it should be an enjoyable, fun experience, with an atmosphere where they can grow their skills. The coach needs to make it a positive, learning environment."

YST: What qualities do you think are required to be a successful coach of young athletes?
"Teaching teamwork, getting along, working toward a common goal, problem solving as a group. Or in individual sports putting yourself on the line."

YST: Given it offers speed, intensity, skill, and power, is Hockey the sport for the next century?
"When you see the NHL ready to expand up to 30 teams, and the number of other leagues that there are, it's growing everywhere. It's an international sport, a global sport as we'll see in the Olympics this year. If hockey gets the coverage in the Olympics that it should this year, it will take it to even greater heights."

YST: To what do you attribute the growth of youth hockey in the metroplex?
"I think the obvious thing is that an NHL team has moved to the city, creating phenomenal growth. Whenever kids can turn a TV on and see their local professional team playing they can see an example of what they might want to aspire to."

YST: How far can youth hockey grow?
"I think there's no limit to it. With a huge population base, and with more rinks being built all the time, it's growing every year and I'm sure that's going to continue."