The Stars capitalized on that dynamic by building an ice empire. They convinced seven local municipalities to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars building rinks that the Stars run and profit from. Their ownership group bought up three more. Along the way, at least eight other independent ice hockey rinks went out of business. Now, every level of amateur hockey in North Texas from preschoolers to adults runs through the state’s NHL team.
By monopolizing the ice, the Stars effectively control the pathways by which young players advance to the sport's highest stages. Knowing most local hockey families have nowhere else to go, the Stars impose their will by reminding parents that they can block the pathway for any kid.
The Stars regularly raise prices on their services while diminishing their quality. They repeatedly retaliate against people they perceive as threats, from coaches who defect to other rinks to parents who criticize them on Facebook. By stacking the regional USA Hockey governing body that regulates the sport with their own executives, the Stars all but ensured no one would stand in their way.
(the title joke is the "Abundance" guys always sneer at the anti-monopolists, an economic policy dispute in which they are obviously wrong on the merits but cling to because the anti-monopolists annoy them and because they are funded by interests who hate the anti-monopolists)