[Caliente]

02:08 PM CST on Friday, November 14, 2003

By RICHARD DURRETT / The Dallas Morning News

Stars coach Dave Tippett will not be behind the bench Friday or Saturday after undergoing emergency surgery to remove a disc from his neck.

Tippett woke up this morning and experienced numbness in his right shoulder and arm and was told he had to have outpatient surgery Friday afternoon. General manager Doug Armstrong said Tippett expected to go home Friday evening and be in Frisco on Monday ready for practice.

Tippett and Armstrong addressed the team at American Airlines Center prior to the morning skate and informed them that associate coach Rick Wilson would run the team with the help of Mark Lamb and Guy Carbonneau, who will add coaching to his assistant GM duties the next two games.

“[Tippett] said it was something that he couldn’t control and that he was going to get it fixed,” forward Pierre Turgeon said. “He wanted to make sure our focus was on the ice. We’ve got to bring what we’re supposed to bring on the ice and win hockey games.”

The timing of Tippett’s departure comes at a critical time for the Stars. The team has four of its next six games against Pacific Division opponents and is trying to end a four-game losing streak, something they hadn’t done since March 1996. Dallas (7-8-1-0) faces Phoenix on Friday and then travels to Colorado for Saturday’s game.

Armstrong, who said Tippett’s injury dates back to his playing days, is confident in a coaching staff with a lot of experience. Wilson took over the head coaching duties of the Stars when Ken Hitchcock was fired on Jan. 25, 2002, and was 13-11-7-1 in the team’s final 32 games that season. Dallas finished with 90 points and missed the playoffs. Carbonneau was an assistant coach in Montreal during the 2001-02 season.

“The players have to get the job done,” Armstrong said. “We’re a veteran team. We need to play well regardless of who’s behind the bench. We need to respond to our situation.”

The Stars participated in an optional skate and many of them talked about the importance of winning games even if Tippett wasn’t behind the bench.

“We’re not playing our best hockey right now and we need to turn things around,” alternate captain Brenden Morrow said. “We’ve had Wilson here before and he’s led the way before. I’m sure not much is going to change. It’s important that we not let too many things distract us. We need to focus on winning a hockey game not on who’s behind the bench.”