Ben Bishop will likely never wear goalie pads again and he's OK with that

The former NHL goalie is now the Stars director of player development.

There were a couple nervy first steps onto the ice for Ben Bishop last week at Dallas Stars Development camp.

He stayed near the boards, took a couple test strides, make sure his body still knew what it was doing.

“After a few minutes it came back to me, it felt good, like I never stopped skating,” Bishop said. “I’m glad, I didn’t fall, that’s a plus.”

It was the first time Bishop had put on skates in almost a year. He’d taken his sons to a public skating session last August, and his first strides into a new role with the Stars as director of player development.

Nerves, even slight ones, rarely impacted Bishop when he stepped onto the ice. The last time he was truly “nervous” before an NHL game came back in 2008 when he was a 21-year-old call-up from the AHL backing up Manny Legace for the St. Louis Blues.

Legace injured his hip stepping onto the ice, tripping on a carpet that had been setup for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to drop the ceremonial face-off.