The final game of the Dallas Stars’ big homestand would be the first of three in a row against the Pacific Division leading Anaheim Ducks. Dallas is still in the hunt for a playoff spot and this week will really test them against one of the best in the west. Glen Gulutzan said that the Stars would be all out today after falling flat against the Kings on Sunday and it looked that way after one period, but the Stars couldn’t provide a full sixty minutes tonight.
First Period
The Dallas Stars set a physical tone in the first period as Jamie Benn, Eric Nystrom, and AHL call up Francis Wathier took a hit on a white jersey whenever they could and made Anaheim work for every inch of ice they got. Dallas looked to create offense as well, Loui Eriksson had the best opportunities for the Stars in the first period as he had a couple of good looks at Anaheim goalie Viktor Fasth. Anaheim did get shots on Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen, but Lehtonen looked sharp in the beginning. After one period Anaheim outshot Dallas 9-6, but the score was tied 0-0.
Second Period
Dallas kept the pressure on Anaheim in the second period resulting in the Stars earning two shots on the powerplay, which they didn’t convert on, but they created some great opportunities. Soon after Anaheim received their first shot on the powerplay off a Stephane Robidas hooking minor, and the offense ignited for the Ducks. The first Duck goal was on the powerplay as Cam Fowler and Ryan Getzlaf set Bobby Ryan up for an excellent shot which he fired past Kari Lehtonen for his tenth goal of the season. A little over two minutes later at the 12:52 mark of the period the Ducks struck again as Bobby Ryan from behind the Dallas net found a streaking Corey Perry and set Perry up for goal number twelve this season. The Ducks final goal of the period came at the 15:02 mark of the period as Matt Belesky finished his own play he created with a backhand shot giving the Ducks a 3-0 lead after two periods.
Third Period
Dallas had opportunities to get back into the game throughout the third period including two chances on the powerplay, but couldn’t get any offense going. Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne added an empty net goal at the end of the game to give Anaheim a dominant 4-0 victory over Dallas to end their five game homestand.
Game Extras
Congratulations to Stu Barnes who was announced as a member of the 20th anniversary team
An attempted April Fools prank by the Stars in which they were unveiling their “new jerseys” which were just the old Mooterus jerseys did not go well with the fans tonight.
Season debut of Francis Wathier as he was recalled to bring some size and toughness to the Stars lineup
Tough not to notice the positive impact Sheldon Souray brings to the Ducks defensive core.
Anaheim’s best players: Selanne, Getzlaf, Ryan, and Perry combined for six points tonight.
Official game attendance: 13,748
Three Stars of the Game chosen by Bruce Levine of KTCK 1310 The Ticket: 1. Bobby Ryan 2. Viktor Fasth 3. Ryan Getzlaf
The Stars will travel to Anaheim to take on these same Ducks on Wednesday. Puck drops at 9:00 pm
Jamie Oleksiak netted his first professional goal in last nights 3-1 win for the Texas Stars over the Milwaukee Admirals.
The Stars started fast and dominated the first period of action at Cedar Park Center, out-shooting their opponents by 12-5. They took a deserved lead to the dressing rooms as Travis Morin scored on the power play from a nice Francis Wathier feed. Jordie Benn grabbed the further assist.
Despite the second period being a goalless one, it was still a decent one to watch. There was a lot of physicality on show as well as several great saves from Stars goaltender Jack Campbell who stood strong to keep his teams lead.
Texas would have been desperate to get a second goal to double their lead, and they did that through Jamie Oleksiak. Oleksiak, who was drafted by the Dallas Stars in 2011, received a nice drop pass from Cody Eakin before firing a wrist shot past Jeremy Smith.
Milwaukee managed to get on the scoreboard to set up a tense last five minutes. Mark Van Guilder cleverly tipped in a shot from the point to take the score to 2-1. The Admirals pulled their goalie in a last ditch effort to grab an equalizer but the Stars managed to score in the empty net and win the game by three goals to one.
It was a promising performance for the Texas Stars. Jack Campbell looked impressive and stopped 23 of 24 shots. Jamie Oleksiak scoring his first professional goal will certainly boost his confidence and hopefully set him up for a decent campaign.
With the victory the Stars improve to a record of 3-3-0. On Sunday they travel to Oklahoma to face the Barons.
With the NHL still in a lockout, many fans look at other leagues and other forms of hockey to fill the time until the NHL lockout ends and the season can commence. Well fortunately for Dallas Stars fans their are many levels of competitive hockey available locally. This season many eyes will be set on the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars, as many of the Stars top prospects are playing their first full season of professional hockey on their road to the NHL. The regular season has gotten underway for the Texas Stars and after five games they are off to a 2-3-0 start. Many prospects have shown what they will provide at the NHL level, but one name is constantly missing from all this. Scott Glennie has not dressed a game for the Texas Stars this season.
To recap, Scott Glennie was Dallas’ first round selection in the 2009 entry draft (8th overall). Glennie played junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Brandon Wheat Kings where he had a very successful career. In 252 games for Brandon Glennie scored 308 points, and a career high 91 points (35g, 56a) in his final year of junior in the 2010-2011 season. Glennie then moved on to the AHL for the 2011-2012 season and in 70 games for the Texas Stars Glennie registered 37 points (12g, 25a). It is well noted how Glennie struggled through October and November last season, but from December through February Glennie’s game picked up. In 34 games he had 25 points (10g, 15a) in the winter months and formed a great chemistry with Colton Sceviour and Francis Wathier as they were a consistent line game in and game out for the Texas Stars last season.
So now that brings us to this season, Glennie was expected to be a standout amongst the new players coming into the Texas Stars organization this season but seemingly he has lost his spot. Glennie has not been noted as injured by the Texas Stars or other writers so it seems to be something else but what? Even Jordie Benn has been used as a forward this season.
The upside though, is that one shouldn’t look so much into this. One big explanation for Glennie’s lack of playing time is the NHL lockout. There are some Dallas Stars hopefuls currently playing big minutes for the Texas Stars right now like Cody Eakin, Alex Chiasson, and Tomas Vincour. So once the NHL lockout ends then forwards like these should find themselves putting on a Dallas Stars’ jersey and thus opening a spot for Glennie on the roster everyday.
HOUSTON, TX- The Texas Stars faced off today against the Houston Aerosin Houston and ended the night with a 5-1 loss.
While Houston quickly out shot the stars within the first ten minutes of the game, it was Aeros rookie Charlie Coyle that found the back of the net first just 4:49 into the first period making Later in the first period on a power play AerosMarco Scandella made it 2-0 at the 18:12 mark. Immediately the referee waived it off as no goal, resulting in the first ever video review in a Texas Stars game.
After an uneventful scoreless second period, the Texas Stars get on the board with a rebound goal from Alex Chiasson, which just happened to be his first of the season, with the assists going to Francis Wathier and Jamie Oleksiak. And that seemed to get the momentum going but was quickly put back down when the Aeros make it 3-1 at 9:44 from David Mclntyre. Zach Phillips scored an unassisted goal at 13:46 and the final nail in their coffin came at 19:13 when Brian Connelly scored their second PP goal of the night making the final score 5-1.
GAME NOTES
Shot totals: Houston-30, Texas-27
Texas Scratches: D-Sloan,RW-Sceviour(injury),C-Vause,C-Glennie,D-Coyle, and C-Tousignant.
Three Stars: 3- Zach Phillips, 2-Marco Scandella, 1-Brian Connelly.
Goalie:Cristopher Nihlstorp vs. Matthew Hackett
The next game is tomorrow against the same team at 7:00 pm at Cedar Park Center
Fortunus defending the net with fellow linemate Sawada (Photo credit to Melissa Grissom)
We are just a couple of days from Texas Stars opening night. Due to the lockout, there will be a lot of eyes on the Dallas Stars farm team. The team has trimmed down a bit from the preseason games. The opening roster has been announced, along with the anointing of Maxime Fortunus as captain for the 2012-2013 season. The press release is below:
CEDAR PARK, TX – The Texas Stars, proud American Hockey League affiliate of the Dallas Stars, announced today the opening night roster for the 2012-13 season. The Stars also announced that veteran defenseman Maxime Fortunus has been named team captain.
The captain choice comes as a surprise, as many thought that Francis Wathier would be captain this year. Fortunus has been with the team since its inaugural season but has spent the majority of his career as an AHL player, having played in only 8 NHL games. There has been speculation that Wathier did not get named captain due to the amount of Dallas callups he might get this year, barring a complete loss of an NHL season. Perhaps the team did not want have their captain sent back and forth from Dallas, allowing some consistency in the locker room. I imagine that at the very least, Wathier will be an alternate captain as he has proven time and time again he is a great leader for the team. Fortunus certainly has a lot of experience under his belt and can be a great leader for the younger guys on the team.
Season opener is Sunday at 7pm! I will be there…Go Stars!
Jordie Benn, one of the 26 assigned to the Texas Stars (Photo taken by Melissa Grissom)
Today, the Dallas Stars have sent 26 players to the Texas Stars and the rest to their junior teams as as the NHL looks like it will be heading into a lockout. I was hoping for no lockout but looks like we are heading into one. Here is more info about the Stars assiging players to the minors from the Dallas Morning News:
Again, these moves would have normally been made during training camp, but they need to be done before the current CBA expires on Sept. 15.
Here is the press release.
DALLAS STARS MAKE ROSTER MOVES
Frisco, TX – The Dallas Stars announced today that 26 players have been assigned to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). The club also announced that five players have been assigned to their respective Junior club teams.
The following players have been assigned to Texas (AHL):
Jordie Benn
Tyler Beskorowany
Jack Campbell
Alex Chiasson
Jace Coyle
Brenden Dillon
Cody Eakin
Maxime Fortunus
Matt Fraser
Luke Gazdic
Scott Glennie
Tristan King
Hubert Labrie
Travis Morin
Cristopher Nilstorp
Patrik Nemeth
Jamie Oleksiak
Toby Petersen
Antoine Roussell
Colton Sceviour
Tyler Sloan
Austin Smith
Reilly Smith
Mathieu Tousignant
Tomas Vincour
Francis Wathier
The following players have been assigned to their respective Junior teams:
Radek Faksa (Kitchener – OHL)
Maxime Lagace (PEI – QMJHL))
Brett Ritchie (Niagara – OHL)
Matej Stransky (Saskatoon – WHL)
Troy Vance (Victoriaville – QMJHL)
Hopefully the NHL can come up with a deal and save the season for us the fans but for right now looks like Stars fans can see their favorite prospects in the juniors and the Texas Stars.
Today, the Dallas Stars have send six players on waivers so they can play in the AHL during what seems like the third lockout in NHL history. Here is more information from the Dallas Morning News on the news release:
The Stars on Thursday sent several players through waivers to allow them to play in the AHL if there is a lockout.
These moves typically would have happened late in training camp under the old rules, but the CBA expires on Sept. 15, so they need to make the moves now.
The Stars players on waiver are:
Colton Sceviour, Maxime Fortunus, Toby Petersen, Travis Morin, Tyler Sloan, and Francis Wathier.
None was expected to start the season on the NHL roster.
The Stars also will play their kids who are on entry level contracts in the AHL if there is a lockout, but those players do not require waivers. That means that Cody Eakin and Tomas Vincour will play in the AHL, despite being earmarked to start the season in the NHL.
Once the new CBA is figured out and the NHL gets back to regular business, it’s expected the Stars will call players up.
Hopefully the NHL will find a deal and save the season for the Stars but looks like fans may have to watch their favorites in the AHL and other leagues.
Hope Scott White has not run out of pen ink yet. After hiring a new head coach and signing veteran forward Francis Wathier to a two year contract this week, it was announced today that Mike Hedden was signed for another year with the Texas Stars. You can read the press release here:
Cedar Park, TX – The Texas Stars announced on Thursday that the team has signed left wing Mike Hedden to a Standard Player Contract (SPC) for the 2012-13 American Hockey League season.
Hedden, 27, made his Texas debut in the 2011-12 season opener against Oklahoma City. He recorded his first three-point night in the AHL on February 10th at Rochester, notching a goal and two assists. He also had a goal, an assist and eight shots in a 6-2 win at home against Peoria on January 20th. In all, Hedden tallied 19 goals and 15 assists in 69 games last season.
The Dunnville, Ontario, native will enter his fourth professional season in 2012-13. Prior to Texas, Hedden played for the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL, leading the team with 32 goals in 2010-11. He played in 57 games, putting up 52 points and leading the team in power-play goals with nine.
He spent four years with Neumann College, winning a national championship in 2006. He set the school’s all-time record for goals (96) and ranked second in points (167) and fourth in assists (67).
When Hedden came onto the scene last year, no one could anticipate the depth he added to the Texas Stars. He quickly became one of the fan favorites as he always gave 100% every shift. Hedden was never afraid to stand up for his teammates. He added a little spark to the game every time he was on the ice. He’s not the biggest guy out there but nonetheless played like he was 6’5, delivering hard checks at the right moments. I believe that he rounds out the team very well. In a developmental league like the AHL you have young prospects, and you have veteran guys like Watts and Hedden who can help mold other players. There was a lot of buzz surrounding the Ontario native at the end of the season, with many fans hoping that he would be around for the 2012-2013 season.
I’d venture to say that with the signings this week and new head coach Desjardins, things are already starting to look up for the Texas Stars. Here’s to hoping for a winning season! Only 121 more days left…..
