His mentor was not among them.

"He can play in the NHL," Michigan coach Red Berenson said about the netminder who led the Wolverines to two NCAA championships. "He has the skills and he's paid his dues. It's just a matter of him getting a chance to show what he can do."

Turco, 25, is getting that opportunity on an increasingly regular basis for the Stars these days.

Marty Turco has allowed well below two goals a game this season.(AP)

As the third backup in as many years to workhorse Ed Belfour, Turco spent much of this season's first three months watching the action from the end of the Dallas bench. But when a disagreement with coach Ken Hitchcock prompted 'Crazy Eddie' to walk out on the team early in January, Turco found himself in the spotlight.

The Stars didn't miss a beat. Turco won three of the team's next four games, one of them with his first career shutout. During that stretch, he allowed only five goals while posting a .960 save percentage, a performance that no doubt helped encourage Belfour to reconsider his situation and return to the team.

"The last month, things have been where I want them to be," said Turco. "It's finally on a level where I can work on things to make me better."

Like getting his teammates used to his style of play. Since he appeared only sporadically early in the season, Dallas defensemen had some trouble adjusting to Turco, the coach said. The situation has improved 'dramatically' in the last month or so, Hitchcock added.

"He's a goaltender on the learning curve, and when he first came in, he tried to do too much, he was too busy back there," Hitchcock told SportsLine.com. "Now he's started to do some of the right things that you like in a goaltender as far as moving the puck and positioning.

"He still has a ways to go, but that will come with experience and time."

Those are things Dallas is willing to give him. No one in the Stars organization suggests that the 35-year-old Belfour is in imminent danger of losing his job, but there is every indication that Turco is being viewed as the man who will one day take his place.

"He's helped convince us of that by his steady progress and improvement," said Dallas GM Bob Gainey. "We've always felt he could be our goalie of the future."

Turco wasn't quite so sure. Growing up in the small northwest Ontario town of Sault Ste. Marie, the five-foot-eleven, 183-pound goalie thought he had neither the size nor the skill to pursue a professional career, even after he was selected in the fifth round of the 1994 draft by Dallas.

"I couldn't have played as a 20- or a 21-year-old, it just wasn't in the cards for me," Turco said. "Anything to do with the NHL was light years away because of where my game was at then."

Instead, Turco decided to continue honing his talents while simultaneously pursuing an education. He said it was one of the best choices he ever made.

"College was unbelievable for me, particularly with our school and coach Berenson," Turco said. "You learn a lot more about life than you do hockey, and once you get your priorities set, you can go and take care of the things you need to be successful."

That became apparent during his career at Michigan, where he replaced Steve Shields, who had graduated in 1994 wore more wins than any college goalie in history. During his four years, Turco won an NCAA record 127 games, posting an overall winning percentage of .806 while getting his team to the Frozen Four each season. He won a record nine Tournament elimination games during his career, was named the championship round's outstanding player in 1998.

"He gave us a chance to win every night," Berenson said. "We always thought that in a big game, Marty could make the difference."

Turco continued his standout play when he turned pro in 1998 and found himself was fourth on the Dallas depth chart behind Roman Turek, now with St. Louis, and Manny Fernandez, now with the Minnesota Wild. Playing for the Stars' IHL farm team in Michigan, Turco was named rookie of the year and earned a spot on the all-star team, a feat he repeated with the K-Wings last season when he had a four-game shutout streak and set a league scoreless record of 282 minutes, four seconds.

This season, as a result of expansion moves which cost Dallas the services of Turek and Fernandez over the last two years, Turco finally got a chance to play at the NHL.

"I knew it would be a long road, but I wouldn't have changed a thing about how I got here," Turco said. "But now that I'm here, I plan to stay for a while."