Tom Hicks Situation: How it Could affect the Stars

All summer long, the finical situation of Tom Hicks has been making news most of the baseball season as earlier in the baseball season he had to take a 15 million dollar loan to cover payroll and layoff some staff at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

In addition, back in March he defaulted on a loan payment and is looking at refinancing the loan for his sports teams both the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars and his half of Liverpool FC in the English Premier League. Recently with the Texas Rangers in the AL Wild Card Lead, they have been rumors that the reason the team didn't do any moves to help increase their chances is because that he couldn't add any payroll for the rest of the season.

So for Stars fans, the question is how could this affect the Stars season when it starts in October? It could affect them in the same ways by not pulling off big trades or sign any free agents that the team didn't do a lot of during the off season. According to the Dallas Business Journal, the NHL Sent a letter to the Hicks Sports Group about how to address the concerns and their sources of income to help redo the loan.

Earlier in the baseball season, reports started to surface that he wanted to sell a minority share of the team, now it looks like that he may want to sell everything he has with the Rangers and it's possibly believed that the same thing may be happening with the Dallas Stars sometime soon.

Hicks in a statement said, "There will be litigation for sure". Currently Hicks also said that he could hold on to the team till August of next year which is a lot later then the October deadline to bring a resolution of the current crisis.

One of the biggest stories off the ice this summer is the bankruptcy of the Phoenix Coyotes and the number of people that could eventually own the team, the most controversy has come from Blackberry billionaire Jim Balsillie about buying the team and moving them to Hamilton, Ontario despite the NHL bringing all the stops to keep the Coyotes in Arizona.

I bring this up because Tom Hicks is smart enough to know that you should do anything possible to keep the team out of bankruptcy where it could be a free fall.

One of the other things that could happen is that if he sells either his half of Liverpool FC or the Texas Rangers that he could come up with enough money to pay off the loan payment much sooner and to free up room for the Dallas Stars when the 2009-2010 hockey season starts up in October.

Here's a link to the story: http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2009/08/17/daily3.html?surround=lfn

Allen Americans Ice Angel squad

As the Allen Americans are preping for their first season in the Central Hockey League which begins on October 16. They are taking a part in a growing trend in hockey and that is having a dance squad. Over the last few weeks, the Allen Americans were having auditons for the Ice Angels squad where they were looking for cheerleaders and dancers to perform at the home games and to promote the team around the D/FW Area. The final squad has 11 dancers that will perform during games.

Of those that were their for the final audations were Stanley Cup Champion Craig Ludwig, Former Brahma player Craig Foddrill, and Amy Jo Mckinley who's a veteran of the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks cheerleading squads. Bar-B-Cutie is the main sponsor of the dance group.

Here's the final squad which will contain 11 members.

Courtney Amigh from Plano

Alyssa Boyles from Plano

Jasmin Flores from Dallas

Ashley Gatlin from Irving

Brittany Gauntt from Flower Mound

Stephanie Hascal from Plano

Kristin Huges from Kilgore

Michelle Hulsey from Garland

Brittany Klement from Harlingen

Elizabeth Thames from Alvin

Bobbi Quigley from Plano

NAHL and USHL Showcase Schedules

Both the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and the United States Hockey League (USHL) will have showcases which will give their players a chance to play infront of both college and pro scouts to get a chance to track them throughout the season.

For the North American Hockey League, it will be September 16-19 in Blane, Minnesota which is just outside of Minneapolis as for most teams that will be the start of the season.

Here's the Division Alignment for the North American Hockey League

To follow the North American Hockey League: www.nahl.com

North Division
Alpena Ice Diggers
Janesville Jets
Marquette Rangers
Motor City Metal Jackets
Traverse City North Stars

Central Division
Albert Lea Thunder
Alexandria Blizzard
Bismarck Bobcats
North Iowa Outlaws
Owatonna Express

South Division
Springfield Jr. Blues
St. Louis Bandits
Texas Tornado
Topeka Roadrunners
Wichita Falls Wildcats

West Division
Alaska Avalanche
Fairbanks Ice Dogs
Kenai River Brown Bears
Wenatchee Wild


September 16

Alaska Avalanche VS. Traverse City North Stars 10:30 AM

Owatonna Express VS. Janesville Jets 12:45 PM

Alpena Ice Diggers VS. Kenai River Brown Bears 1:15 PM

Springfield Jr. Blues VS. Fairbanks Ice Dogs 1:45 PM

Wenatchee Wild VS. Alexandria Blizzard 4:00 PM

Motor City Metal Jackets VS. Topeka Roadrunners 4:30 PM

Marquette Rangers VS. Texas Tornado 5:00 PM

North Iowa Outlaws VS. Wichita Falls Wildcats 7:15 PM

USNTDP VS. Bismarck Bobcats 7:45 PM

St. Louis Bandits VS. Albert Lea Thunder 8:15 PM

September 17

Marquette Rangers VS. Wenatchee Wild 10:30 AM

Alexandria Blizzard VS. Kenai River Brown Bears 12:45 PM

Springfield Jr. Blues VS. Alaska Avalanche 1:15 PM

Wichita Falls Wildcats VS. Alpena Ice Diggers 1:45 PM

Owatonna Express VS. St. Louis Bandits 4:00 PM

Bismarck Bobcats VS. Texas Tornado 4:30 PM

Motor City Metal Jackets VS. North Iowa Outlaws 5:00 PM

Topeka Roadrunners VS. Janesville Jets 7:15 PM

USNTDP VS. Traverse City North Stars 7:45 PM

Fairbanks Ice Dogs VS. Albert Lea Thunder 8:15 PM

September 18

Kenai River Brown Bears VS. Motor City Metal Jackets 10:30 AM

Traverse City North Stars VS. Springfield Jr. Blues 12:45 PM

Alpena Ice Diggers VS. North Iowa Outlaws 1:15 PM

Wichita Falls Wildcats VS. Marquette Rangers 1:45 PM

Fairbanks Ice Dogs VS. Topeka Roadrunners 4:00 PM

Bismarck Bobcats VS. St. Louis Bandits 4:30 PM

Janesville Jets VS. Alexandria Blizzard 5:00 PM

Texas Tornado VS. Owatonna Express 7:15 PM

Wenatchee Wild VS. USNTDP 7:45 PM

Albert Lea Thunder VS. Alaska Avalanche 8:15 PM

September 19

Kenai River Brown Bears VS. Marquette Rangers 9:00 AM

Traverse City North Stars VS. Bismarck Bobcats 9:45 AM

Albert Lea Thunder VS. Motor City Metal Jackets 10:15 AM

Topeka Roadrunners VS. Wenatchee Wild 12:15 PM

Texas Tornado VS. Alpena Ice Diggers 1:00 PM

Alexandria Blizzard VS. Springfield Jr. Blues 1:30 PM

Janesville Jets VS. Wichita Falls Wildcats 3:30 PM

North Iowa Outlaws VS. Fairbanks Ice Dogs 4:15 PM

St. Louis Bandits VS. USNTDP 4:45 PM

Alaska Avalanche VS. Owatonna Express 6:45 PM

For the United States Hockey League, the USHL Fall Showcase is the leagues main preseason event as the 14 USHL teams get ready for the season starts up on October 1. It will be the in Sioux City, Iowa from September 24-26.

East Division
Cedar Rapids Roughriders
Chicago Steel
Green Bay Gamblers
Indiana Ice
USNTDP
Waterloo Blackhawks
Youngstown Phantoms

West Division
Des Moines Buccaneers
Fargo Force
Lincoln Stars
Omaha Lancers
Sioux City Musketeers
Sioux Falls Stampade
Tri-City Storm

To follow the United States Hockey League: www.ushl.com

For the USHL Fall Classic: www.ushlfallclassic.com

September 24

Chicago Steel VS. Sioux Falls Stampade 9:30 AM @ IBP

Indiana Ice VS. Lincoln Stars 10:00 AM @ TEC

Green Bay Gamblers VS. Des Moines Buccaneers 1:00 PM @ TEC

Youngstown Phantoms VS. Omaha Lancers 1:30 PM @ IBP

USNTDP VS. Tri-City Storm 4:00 PM @ TEC

Waterloo Blackhawks VS. Fargo Force 5:30 PM @ IBP

Cedar Rapids Roughriders VS. Sioux City Musketeers 7:00 PM @ TEC

September 25

Youngstown Phantoms VS. Des Moiness Buccaneers 9:30 AM @ IBP

Green Bay Gamblers VS. Lincoln Stars 10:00 AM @ TEC

Waterloo Blackhawks VS. Sioux Falls Stampade 1:00 PM @ TEC

Cedar Rapids Roughriders VS. Tri-City Storm 1:30 PM @ IBP

Indiana Ice VS. Fargo Force 4:00 PM @ TEC

Chicago Steel VS. Omaha Lancers 5:30 PM @ IBP

USNTDP VS. Sioux City Musketeers 7:00 PM @ TEC

September 26

Green Bay Gamblers VS. Fargo Force 9:30 AM @ IBP

Youngstown Phantoms VS. Tri-City Storm 10:00 AM @ TEC

Indiana Ice VS. Sioux Falls Stampade 1:00 PM @ TEC

USNTDP VS. Des Moines Buccaneers 1:30 PM @ IBP

Chicago Steel VS. Waterloo Blackhawks 4:00 PM @ TEC

Cedar Rapids Roughriders VS. Lincoln Stars 5:30 PM @ IBP

Omaha Lancers VS. Sioux City Musketeers 7:00 PM @ TEC

Arena Code

TEC= Tyson Events Center
IBP= IBP Ice Center