The American Hockey League Schedule comes out Today

In about 3 hours the full 2010-2011 AHL Schedule is expected to come out today as the final major league in North America will start getting ready for the new season in October. Be sure to find links for all 4 Southwest Teams when the schedule is expected to come out around 3:00 PM Today.

I will show the links when they come out. In addition I will also post the records from last season as all 4 teams will compete in the West Division this season.

Full AHL Schedule

AHL Season Highlights


Texas Stars Schedule

Texas Stars Schedule Highlights

Season Opener: 10/10 @ San Antonio Rampage

Home Opener: 10/16 VS. San Antonio Rampage

Longest Home Stand: 11/24-12/7 7 Games

Longest Road Trip: 2/14-2/26 8 Games

The Texas Stars will get underway on Sunday October 10 with a road game in San Antonio followed by a 5 game homestand as the Stars will look to start their 2nd season on a strong note with another game against San Antonio along with 3 games against the Peoria Rivermen on 10/17, 10/23 and 10/26 along with a match against the Lake Erie Monsters on October 22.

Some of the interesting schedule highlights include a 7 game homestand which starts the day before Thanksgiving on November 24 against the Houston Aeros.

As for long roadtrips this season away from the Austin Area, the Stars will embark on a season long 8 game roadtrip in February starting out with a weekend set against the Lake Erie Monsters along with visits to Grand Rapids, Chicago, Milwaukee & Peoria before returning to Texas with games against the both the Aeros & Rampage.

Another long set of road games will be coming up just after Christmas and in to Mid-January where they play 8-of-9 on the road.

Overall the Texas Stars, this seems to be a pretty balanced schedule full of different homestands and roadtrips through the year. For the team that's been raided since the Calder Cup Run back in June. Expect a step or two back this season for the Stars

hey hoping that the Stars will bring a strong 2nd act to the Austin Area. However, I don't expect the Stars will have quite such as a strong season as they did last year because of the massive departures of players like Matt Climie. They maybe fighting it out for a playoff spot and a lot less like the team that came within 2 wins of winning a Calder Cup last season.


Houston Aeros Schedule

Houston Aeros Schedule Highlights


Season Opener: 10/9 VS. Oklahoma City Barons

Home Opener: 10/16 VS. Peoria Rivermen

Longest Home Stand: 5 Games 3/6-3/19

Longest Road Trip: 6 Games 12/10-12/21

Houston gets underway with a pair of roadgames a week apart on October 9 & 15 up in Oklahoma City before their October 16 home opener with 2 against the Peoria Rivermen and another game against the Oklahoma City Barons as the last year's Last Place Team in the West Division and the league's new boys will get used to each other a lot in the opening month of the season.

November will be a heavy road month for the Aeros as the team will embark on a trip where they will play 6-of-7 on the road with trips to Abbotsford, Peoria and Grand Rapids on this trip.

The Aeros home schedule won't be a benefit it seems like til late in the year where late February and March will have lots of home games where a possible playoff chase could be benefited here as they will be playing a lot of teams that either just barely made it or were just awful last year including the Rockford Icehogs, Syracuse Crunch and the Manitoba Moose.


San Antonio Rampage Schedule

San Antonio Rampage Schedule Highlights


Season Opener: 10/8 VS. Chicago Wolves

Road Opener: 10/16 VS. Texas Stars

Longest Home Stand: 6 Games 3/5-3/18

Longest Road Trip: 9 Games 2/4-2/25

If San Antonio is looking to return to the playoffs for the first time in 2008 and they hoping that a favorable home start will help out. The Rampage will start the year with 9 of their first 11 at home with the Chicago Wolves on October 8.

Their only road trips in the first 11 are to Texas Stars and the Oklahoma City Barons so travel will be minimal when they do hit the road. In addition to the first 11, a 3 game road trip that will take them Abbotsford, BC and OKC.

As for the annual "Rodeo Road Trip that has the team out of the building for most of February will see them have a 5 game roadtrip with a break in between with games against Abbotsford & Chicago.

This year's Rodeo Road Trip will see them have a 9 game will see them head to Lake Erie & Manitoba for a pair of games each, also included will be a trip to Syracuse then the 2 Ontario Teams in Hamilton who came within one win of beating Texas & Making the Calder Cup.

Then a game against the Toronto Marlies that were badly affected by injuries despite being in the playoff chase til about the final month of the season where they dropped off and miss the playoffs by 9 points over the Manitoba Moose.


Oklahoma City Barons Schedule

Oklahoma City Barons Schedule Highlighights


Season Opener: October 9 VS. Houston Aeros

Road Opener: October 17 VS. Houston Aeros

Longest Home Stand: 8 Games 11/5-11/23

Longest Road Trip: 9 Games 3/15-3/27

Like the San Antonio Rampage, the Barons will also have a heavy home schedule early on with 6 of the first 7 games at the Cox Convention Center with the Barons & Aeros hooking up 3 times in the first 5.

Between that opening stretch and an 8 game home stretch that takes up a majority of November, An interesting 5 game roadtrip will be their big road test of the season which includes the Hamilton Bulldogs and the Chicago Wolves who finished on top of the West Division Standings at the end of the regular season last year.

Some interesting roadtrips will include a season long 9 game road trip late in the year which includes a 3 straight games against the Houston Aeros and a pair of games for the Chicago Wolves which could be huge for their playoff hopes as these teams will be looking to turnaround from a bad 2009-2010 season. Overall, that starts a very tough end of the season where 12 of the final 14 games where all but one will be against Divisional Matchups.

This schedule has a lot of huge chunks, and not just a whole lot of just one or two game homestands so they will have plenty of time in advance to find out what to expect ahead of time.

AHL Schedule Comes out Today

Here's a look at the opening weekend schedule for the American Hockey League which will get underway on October 8 as the San Antonio Rampage will play host to the Chicago Wolves. While the other Southwest Teams for the most part will get underway with Houston & Oklahoma City will get underway on October 9 at the Cox Convention Center.

Finally the defending Western Conference Champion Texas Stars will look to start a strong 2nd season in the Texas Capital on October 10 in the I-35 Rivalary against the San Antonio Rampage.

As for other games the expansion Charlotte Checkers will head to Conn. to play the Hartford Wolfpack while the Albany will make their AHL Return against the Adirondack Phantoms.

In addition to the Schedule, here's the Conference Alignment after the changes were made over the offseason.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division: Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Hartford Wolfpack, Manchester Monarchs, Portland Pirates, Providence Bruins, Springfield Falcons, Worcester Sharks

East Division: Adirondack Phantoms, Albany Devils, Binghamton Senators, Charlotte Checkers, Hershey Bears, Norfolk Admirals, Syracuse Crunch, W-B/Scranton Penguins


Western Conference

North Division: Abbotsford Heat, Grand Rapids Griffins, Hamilton Bulldogs, Lake Erie Monsters, Manitoba Moose, Rochester Americans, Toronto Marlies

West Division: Chicago Wolves, Houston Aeros, Milwaukee Admirals, Oklahoma City Barons, Peoria Rivermen, Rockford Icehogs, San Antonio Rampage, Texas Stars


Here's the Full American Hockey League Opening Weekend Schedule.

10/8

Abbotsford Heat VS. Grand Rapids Griffins 6:00 PM

Adirondack Phantoms VS. Binghamton Senators 6:05 PM

Springfield Falcons VS. Providence Bruins 6:05 PM

Syracuse Crunch VS. Lake Erie Monsters 6:30 PM

Chicago Wolves VS. San Antonio Rampage 7:00 PM

Manitoba Moose VS. Peoria Rivermen 7:05 PM


10/9

Rochester Americans VS. Toronto Marlies 2:00 PM

Manitoba Moose VS. Rockford Icehogs 4:35 PM

Adirondack Phantoms VS. Albany Devils 6:00 PM

Worcester Sharks VS. Bridgeport Sound Tigers 6:00 PM

Charlotte Checkers VS. Hartford Wolfpack 6:00 PM

Manchester Monarchs VS. Portland Pirates 6:00 PM

Providence Bruins VS. Springfield Falcons 6:00 PM

Norfolk Admirals VS. Binghamton Senators 6:05 PM

Hershey Bears VS. W-B/Scranton Penguins 6:05 PM

Lake Erie Monsters VS. Syracuse Crunch 6:30 PM

Abbotsford Heat VS. Milwaukee Admirals 7:00 PM

Houston Aeros VS. Oklahoma City Barons 7:05 PM


10/10

Manchester Monarchs VS. Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2:00 PM

Worcester Sharks VS. Hartford Wolfpack 2:00 PM

Charlotte Checkers VS. Springfield Falcons 2:00 PM

Texas Stars VS. San Antonio Rampage 3:00 PM

Chicago Wolves VS. Oklahoma City Barons 3:05 PM

Milwaukee Admirals VS. Peoria Rivermen 3:05 PM

Hershey Bears VS. Rochester Americans 4:05 PM

Grand Rapids Griffins VS. Rockford Icehogs 4:05 PM