Cartoon drawing of Colton Sceviour and Jordie Benn (Art work done by Stephanie Lynne Diorio)

Hoctober is almost here. At the Cedar Park Center, the ice is pristine and ready. The players are starting to trickle in. The anticipation of live hockey is almost too much. Hoctober is almost here. Although the hockey faithful face the doom of an NHL lockout, all hope is not lost. There is still plenty of live hockey to enjoy if you are lucky enough to live in a city that has an AHL team, ECHL team, CHL team, etc. Cedar Park has the honor of being the host city for the Dallas Stars’ minor league affiliate.

On October 14^th, the Texas Stars are ready to take the ice in the season opener against the Charlotte Checkers. This time they will be led by a new coach, Willie Desjardins. Many veterans will be returning such as Wathier, Sceviour, and Fortunus. The prediction is that Wathier will be wearing the C this season. The faces that we began to know at the end of last season will hopefully be back as well, pending camp and the roster release. Fans who fell in love with the likes of Campbell and Smith hope for their return. Some players are gone and have moved on as is the usual par for course in minor league hockey.

Wishful thinking to those hoping to catch a glimpse for NHL superstars at the CPC as only the players with two way contracts would be eligible. Garbutt, Larsen and Bachman all signed one way contracts with the Dallas Stars so we will not see them this year with Texas.

In less than 19 days Hoctober will officially arrive at the Cedar Park Center. Stay tuned for a winning season! This time the road to the Calder Cup will not end in defeat.

Texas Stars victory (Photo credit to Stephanie Robinson)

The Texas Stars were made a part of the American Hockey League quite recently. In 2008, the Dallas Stars announced that the Iowa Stars would no longer be their affiliate team, meaning Stars prospects would have to play their hockey elsewhere. Prospects were sent to teams including the Hamilton Bulldogs and Grand Rapids Griffins.

A year later, the Texas Stars entered the AHL on the basis that they purchased an existing league franchise within a year. They bought the Iowa Chops and established themselves as an AHL outfit. They currently play at Cedar Park Center in Austin, Texas.

The first year of hockey was a very successful one for the Texas Stars. In 2009/10 they managed to rack up 46 wins and earn a place in the playoffs. In the playoffs they surprised a few and went all the way to the finals, but fell short and lost out by 4 games to 2 against the Hershey Bears.

Their second season of hockey was another good one, as they recorded over 40 wins again. The playoff success didn’t happen this time around though as the Stars crashed out in the first round to the Milwaukee Admirals.

Last season was a season of disappointment for the Stars. They could only manage 31 wins, which wasn’t good enough to secure a playoff spot.

Texas will be hoping for a different 2012/13 season though. With the NHL lockout in place, the Texas Stars will get a lot more attention from hockey fans in Texas with no Dallas Stars hockey to watch. A few of the Dallas Stars players have been released to be able to play for the Texas Stars. This should strengthen and add depth to the squad. I expect a decent campaign for the Texas Stars, but it will certainly be a tough season as other AHL sides will have been strengthened with some NHL players on their rosters.

(Photo taken by Melissa Grissom)

With the threat of an NHL lockout looming on the horizon, many AHL fans have wondered how a lockout may affect our league and teams. The current CBA is set to expire on September 15^th. The clock is ticking away and it seems that little progress has been made between the NHL and the NHLPA.

The Texas Stars’ first season was nearly five years after the last lockout. While this situation may not be new for the hockey faithful, many fans at Cedar Park may not be prepared on how this lockout may affect our team. You can be certain that attendance and coverage will increase vastly. More eyes will be on our developing players more than ever. While a lot of AHL fans would be delighted to see high level players in their arena, the concern is that the NHL players may push the younger players out of a job. This would be detrimental to the development of players such as Jack Campbell, Matt Fraser, Alex Chiasson, etc. There is no certainty or guarantee right now and AHL fans should be concerned about what is going on with the big wigs at the NHL.

I do not foresee the majority of players to head immediately to the AHL if there is a lockout. I imagine that a lot of players, like Jaromir Jagr, will head to Europe in order to get ice time. Much of what has been said so far is pure speculation, but time is running out.

Stars Logo (Photo Taken by Melissa Grissom)

With Dallas native Austin Smith making his professional hockey debut during the 2011-2012 Texas Stars season, it was suddenly feasible for players to make the big time in a non traditional hockey venue. Dallas has developed many ice rinks over the years and their efforts have shown. In comparison, Austin only has one sheet of ice. However there have been developments that are helping to alleviate the lack of ice problem. It was recently announced that a 2/3 ice rink called The Pond Hockey Club would open in fall 2012. In addition, the Texas Stars announced that they have entered into a partnership with Chaparral Ice to share the space at the Cedar Park Center. You can read the release here:

Cedar Park, TX – The Texas Stars and Chaparral Ice announced on Thursday that they have entered into a partnership to maximize the availability of full-sheet ice at Cedar Park Center and Chaparral Ice’s location at Northcross at West Anderson lane. The partnership also covers the continued development of the Texas Junior Stars program through Chaparral Ice’s youth travel teams.

“With only one full-time, full-sheet of ice available in the Greater Austin area, we felt it was imperative to coordinate our efforts with Chaparral Ice to maximize the amount of ice available for not just youth and adult hockey, but also all ice sports,” stated Texas Stars President Rick McLaughlin. “Additionally, through our agreement with Chaparral Ice, we anticipate the Texas Junior Stars program will continue to grow and thrive.”

The agreement covers the managed scheduling of ice time at Cedar Park Center by Chaparral Ice to enable full hockey league activities in the Austin area. In addition, Chaparral Ice is the home of the Texas Junior Stars program.

Chaparral Ice is a family-owned business that is home to approximately 20 youth teams, from recreation through high school to competition/travel hockey teams, with over 250 boys and girls ranging from ages four to 18. The facility is also home to over 400 adult league participants across 8 leagues.  In addition to year-round hockey, Chaparral Ice is home to the Austin Figure Skating Club, Stars of Austin Synchro Team, Capital of Texas Figure Skating Club and the Lonestar Curling Club. The facility is also available for public skating, corporate events, broomball, and hosts year-round skating and hockey classes.

“Chaparral Ice is excited about our new relationship with the Texas Stars and Cedar Park Center,” said Angie Vaught, General Manager of Chaparral Ice Center. “This relationship will allow us to offer additional programs and ice time not only to our current players and skaters, but to the growing skating community in Central Texas as well. We will be able to meet the needs of all our programs for the 2012-13 season, and we look forward to the opportunity to expand the presence of ice sports in the Cedar Park/Leander area. We feel our partnership with the Texas Stars and Cedar Park Center will be vital to the growth of hockey and figure skating in the greater Austin area.”

For more information about Chaparral Ice visit the official website at www.ChaparralIce.com.

With 2 full sheets of ice available and another one under development, perhaps Austin can become a competitive hockey market like Dallas. One day, hopefully soon, we might be able to see a native Austinite make their own debut with a professional hockey club, just like Austin Smith. This was a good move for the Texas Stars, as it shows their willingness and encouragement in the arena of developing younger players to chase their hockey dreams.

Ryan Garbutt, one of the 6 signed (Photo taken by Melissa Grissom)

And the hits just keep on coming. Dallas announced today that they have extended qualifying offers to six players, five of whom players that we’ve had the privilege of getting to see firsthand at the Cedar Park Center. Here’s the news release from Dallas:

Frisco, TX - The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has extended qualifying offers to the following six players:

• Richard Bachman
• Jordie Benn
• Mark Fistric
• Ryan Garbutt
• Luke Gazdic
• Colton Sceviour

Angelo Esposito, Mikhail Stefanovich, Michael Neal and Jake Hauswirth did not receive qualifying offers. Teams are required to extend a one-year “qualifying offer” to any current restricted free agent by June 25 in order to receive the right of the first refusal or draft choice compensation should that respective player sign an offer sheet with another NHL club.

The qualifying offers will expire at 4 p.m. (Central Time) on Thursday, July 15. Qualifying offers fall into three categories:

1. A player whose prior year salary was equal or less than $660,000 must receive a qualifying offer of 110% of their prior year’s salary.

2. A player whose prior year salary was more than $660,000 and up to $1 million must receive a qualifying offer of 105% of their prior year’s salary (but in no event shall such qualifying offer exceed $1 million)

3. A player whose prior year salary was more than $1 million must receive a qualifying offer at 100% of their prior year’s salary. If a team does not give a qualifying offer to a restricted free agent, he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and can sign with any team with no compensation required to the player’s former club. (source: Dallas Stars Website)

It was no big surprise that the five players who spent a majority of their time over the last few years with the Texas Stars were extended qualifying offers. Bachman certainly made an impression with Dallas after he was called up, and he quickly replaced Andrew Raycroft as the NHL backup. Garbutt also caught the eye of Dallas after he was called up, and was eventually left off of the AHL’s Clear Day Roster as it was certain he would be spending the rest of the season with the NHL. Benn has been a core contributor from the blue line. The veteran play maker Sceviour deserves his shot at the NHL this year, hopefully Dallas can make him an integral part of their lineup. The 6’3 powerhouse Gazdic will undoubtedly round out Texas’ fourth line.

The only surprise was that Angelo Esposito was not made a qualifying offer. It was the opinion of many that, after Esposito got traded for Ondrej Roman last year, that Texas got the better end of that deal. Esposito registered 16 points in 38 games with Texas and quickly became a fan favorite after his arrival. But as we all know, there is a business behind the game, and Esposito was left out of this particular transaction. He may not fit into the long-term plans Dallas has for Texas. Bachman, Sceviour, Garbutt, Benn, Fistric and Gazdic have until July 15th to accept or reject their offers. It is my hope that they will all stay with the Stars organization.

Although both Dallas and the Texas Stars did not make the post-season this year, there is still a lot of news and announcements coming out of both camps. As previously reported, the Texas Stars let go of their coaches Jeff Pyle and Jeff Truitt after a disappointing performance this year. The word around the Stars organization was that the replacement would be someone who was familiar with Glen Gulutzan‘s system. These rumors turned about to be correct when it was announced today that the new head coach of the Texas Stars would be Willie Desjardins (Duh-ZHAR-dihns).

With 27 years of coaching experience, Desjardins was my first choice for head coach. He has many years under his belt coaching young players, as his most successful years were with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. Although we have not been apprised of the other official coaching candidates, my guess was that Paul Jerrard would not have wanted to leave the cush position he has with the Dallas Stars.

Desjardins will be introduced to the media at the Cedar Park Center Thursday June 14th at 11am. Texas GM Scott White and Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan will be in attendance as well. Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk had this to say about Coach Willie, “We believe that Willie’s track record as a teacher of the game and his ability to develop young players is a perfect fit for the Texas Stars. His knowledge of Glen Gulutzan’s system and his familiarity with our prospects will continue to improve player development between Dallas and the Texas Stars.” (Source: www.texasstarshockey.com)

From a Texas Stars fan perspective, I cannot wait for the season to start and believe that Desjardins is the perfect candidate to usher in a new era of young, talented players.

When the Chaparral Ice I-35 location closed its doors this past winter, much to the dismay of hockey players and figure skaters, there was still a glimmer of hope that more ice would be available soon. With only one sheet of ice left to accommodate the numerous programs, there was a lot of worry that there would not be enough time in the day to support them. Although the Texas Stars have generously allowed a hockey league to play at the Cedar Park Center during the season, there is still need for more ice in Austin.

Recently there was an announcement that a new rink would open in Austin. It was met with mixed reactions. Why, you might ask? Well, because The Pond Hockey Club is only 2/3 the size of a regular rink. There would be no regular 5 on 5 hockey games, but rather 3 on 3 with a goalie and 4 on 4 without. The backbone of Chaparral Ice has always been its youth programs, and there has been concern that this new club would siphon their customers away. Especially with the enticement of a “warm” spectator area. Another con to this rink is that fact that there would be no USA Hockey sanctioned tournaments. Many people have made the valid argument that if you were going to spend the time and money making a rink, you should do it regulation size.

On the flip side, this new club may help with the scheduling issues that come with only having one sheet of ice. If The Pond Hockey Club delivers its promise of having daily stick and puck sessions, power skating, drop-ins, etc. this may allow Chaparral to have more time to schedule other programs. I am sure that many hockey players like myself would agree that sharing the ice with figure skaters and curlers is cumbersome. I cannot tell you the amount of times that people have narrowly missed crashing into the boards because they lost an edge while going over a pothole in the ice. In addition, this new club has advertised itself as a hockey training facility and that they are simply here to supplement the regular hockey programs already in place at Chaparral, especially for youth and mite league hockey.

Only time will tell how this new club affects the hockey and figure skating community in Austin. I am sure that there are as many people excited about the prospect of more ice as there are naysayers.