DALLAS -- Lindy Ruff had one stipulation when he agreed to meet with the Dallas Stars about their coaching vacancy. "We cant meet in the crease," Ruff said about his joking conversation with new Stars general manager Jim Nill. Ruff was hired Friday the new coach of the Stars, 14 years after Dallas clinched its only Stanley Cup championship on a goal he has always questioned -- Brett Hulls shot with his skate in the crease late in the third overtime of Game 6 that beat the Ruff-coached Buffalo Sabres. "Its a long time ago," Ruff said after his introduction. "Ive had some great memories. Ive gotten past that. Im a coach, I want to coach, and this is an unbelievable opportunity. ... It all worked out great for Dallas. "It didnt work out so good for us back then. I can tell you one thing, that same emotion and same passion will be here in Dallas if the same type of thing happens or anything similar, because thats the fire I have." The Stars, who have missed the playoffs the past five seasons, gave the 53-year-old Ruff a four-year contract. He is the 22nd coach in franchise history and seventh since the team moved to North Texas in 1993. Before being fired by Buffalo in February, Ruff had been the Sabres coach for 15 seasons and was the NHLs longest active-serving coach with one team. The Sabres only Stanley Cup appearance under Ruff came in that 1999 final known for the "No Goal!" chant that Ruff joined thousands of Buffalo fans in after the series was over. They thought Hulls skate was in the goalies crease before he had control of the puck and the goal shouldnt have been allowed. "The league said it was a goal. I just argued that it wasnt," Ruff said. "My first thing was asking whether this was being reviewed and couldnt get an answer. ... Its all behind me." Ruff is the first significant hire for Nill, the longtime Detroit Red Wings assistant general manager who signed a five-year deal in April to replace the fired Joe Nieuwendyk. Nill had worked in Detroits front office since 1994, his last 15 seasons as the general manager of the franchise that has made the playoffs the past 22 seasons. The Stars are in their longest post-season drought in the history of the franchise that started as the Minnesota North Stars from 1967-93. They were 22-22-4 last season, at the bottom of the Pacific Division. Before his time in the front office, Nill finished his playing career in the Red Wings organization. Ruff was drafted by the Sabres in 1979 and became the captain during his 10 years as a player before getting traded to the New York Rangers, then later returning to Buffalo as coach. Now the two men who spent extended periods of time within separate organizations are starting fresh together in Dallas. "Thats the intriguing part of it. ... The first time I met Lindy, he said why did you leave (Detroit)," Nill said. "So we walked through it. I talked about the ownership, talked about the foundation being built, talked about opportunity, talked about a fresh start." Two weeks after Nill was hired, he decided not to renew the third-year option for coach Glen Gulutzan. Nill spoke to several candidates for the job, but quickly realized that Ruff had all the attributes he desired in a coach. "It was experience, credibility, stability, great knowledge of the game, person thats been in different situations, the highs and lows and a good family person on and off the ice," Nill said. "We sat down and all these attributes were checked off. ... Were looking excitedly to a very long tenure here." Since Ruff still had two seasons left on his contract with Buffalo, the Stars had to get permission from the Sabres to talk to the coach. Ruff was the Sabres winningest coach (571-432-162), but was fired after a 6-10-1 in this years lockout-shortened season. There had been 170 NHL coaching changes between his hiring in July 1997 and the time he was fired. Under Ruff, the Sabres made the playoffs in each of his first four seasons and eight times overall. They made the Eastern Conference finals in 2006 and 2007. "When you coach for that number of years and in the same place, the exciting part for me is in talking to a lot of other coaches, from former coaches here to coaches that have gone from organization to organization, how it revitalized them, energized them," Ruff said. "Im excited about working with Jim and all his experiences that he had in Detroit. It was just a real good fit." Nike Air VaporMax 2019 White-Metallic Gold . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Fake Vapormax 2019 . 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They had been shooting for gold all Olympics.But an air ball in the game that mattered most means bronze is now the best the Australian mens basketball team can aim for in Rio.They will play world No.2 Spain for third place after going down 87-61 to Serbia in the semi-finals on Friday night (Saturday morning AEST).The Boomers were a shadow of the team that had stunned many, including the formidable United States, en route to the final four.Coming into the game, Australia were the competitions best shooters.But all they could muster was 14 points to Serbias 35 in the first-half, and hit just 22 shots from 66 attempts for the game.Even worse was their accuracy from the three-point line, sinking only four off 31.It was pathetic, admitted NBA player Joe Ingles.Nothing Australian about it.The Boomers had beaten Serbia by 15 points in the group stage but the entertaining, slick ball movement that has become their trademark went missing.Patty Mills and Brock Motum each scored 13 points, while Ingles added 12 and seven rebounds.The Serbs were resolute in defence and, unlike Australia, had no issue finding the basket.This is really the first time that weve been challenged in this tournament and where things havent gone our way, said coach Anddrej Lemanis.ddddddddddddIts an anomaly.Its a good test of character for us now in terms of how we bounce back from disappointment.I know this group and the pride that they have in the way they play the game and the way they represent Australian basketball on the international stage.That will hurt all of us over the next couple of days and I think well be anxious to get back on court and put this right to some degree.Australia has never won an Olympic medal in mens basketball, having finished fourth on three occasions - in 1988, 1996 and 2000.They face a tough task to break that duck against Spain who were silver medallists at both the Beijing and London Olympics.Were Australian. Were not going to back down, insisted Ingles.Weve got a lot to learn in a short time.At the end of the day, weve still got a chance to do something that no teams ever done from Australia.Were going to leave everything out there on Sunday and take that bronze.The Americans beat Spain 82-76 in the earlier semi-final to set up their third straight gold medal match against Serbia, who are competing at the Olympics for the first time. ' ' '