Things to watch for this Weekend

Here's some things to watch for from Southwest Teams and some of the top players this weekend.

 Texas Tornado have a chance to really get some long home stretches on the right foot and send a message to their leagues that they are for real and make an impact to the league.

After this weekend's games against the Corpus Christi Icerays, the Tornado will begin a home stretch that's even longer then the Dallas Stars 6 game Homestand as the Tornado starting next weekend will play the Wenatchee Wild which kicks off 13 of their next 17 at home. This is a chance to start getting a long winning streak and get some breathing room between them and the South Division Bunkmates.

However, with some critical injuries like J.D. Howard and the team leading scorer Rock Einersen, they will provide quite a challenge for the rest of the team to show up and possibly could lead to a call-up from one of their prospects, especially from the Texas Tornado U18 Team at some point like Mico Solarzino was able to take advantage of last year.

All 4 AHL Teams have very busy weekends on tap with Houston, San Antonio and Oklahoma City are going to have a 3 game-in-3-night weekends. Oklahoma City will need to be able to survive a very tough weekend with the Barons playing a Friday Night Home Game against the Barons, but after that, it's the start of a very fast 5 game road trip which includes a tough trip to Ontario where they will play the Toronto Marlies on Saturday.

Then a Sunday Afternoon game against the Hamilton Bulldogs where the spotlight will be on them with the game being televised on both CBC (Canada) and the NHL Network (USA) this weekend. After a first 3 games that weren't very good, it's beginning to crank up which includes an 8-2 win over Houston and getting the team's first ever Shutout against the Lake Erie Monsters as well.

Some other interesting games include the Lake Erie Monsters as they have gone 0-2 on their Southwest Road Trip as the Monsters get the Texas Stars tonight, then will wrap up the road trip tomorrow in Houston against the Aeros. Hopefully both the Stars and Aeros will continue their success against Lake Erie as the Monsters have had the bite taken out of them so far as the Monsters sit 6th in the North Division at 2-3-1.

Other games of note include the Peoria Rivermen playing the Houston Aeros tonight and heading to Texas to take on the Stars tomorrow night.

As of right now the Barons and Rampage are look to continue their good start as they are 2nd & 3rd in the West Division, while the Stars & Aeros are looking to climb up the West Division Ladder as they sit 6th and 7th. But with each team playing less then 6 games, look for some interesting matches and a lot of  switching around coming up. So the big question is that come Sunday & Saturday, who can fight off the possible fatigue and get some critical wins early on in a very busy AHL Weekend.

Battle of Unbeaten's faceoff in huge early season show down as Johnnie Searfoss of Neb.-Omaha and Chris Brown of Michigan. After making their WCHA Debut in a huge fashion, Nebraska-Omaha stunned the University of Minnesota by winning both games.

Neb.-Omaha is looking to continue their hot start with a tough Michigan team at the University of Michigan this weekend. Another big win or even a great looking split will show the country that the Mavericks will look to be big contenders in their first season in the WCHA

So far from Chris Brown and Johnnie Searfoss. They both have been off to slow starts stats wise, but both are providing a ton of energy and strength. Searfoss has the one goal from the 8-0 thrashing of Clarkson while Brown got his first goal of the season came last weekend against the University of New Hampshire.

Battle for first in CHL Southern Conference between Allen & Bossier-Shreveport. After a 6-4 win for the Americans in Shreveport last night, both the Americans and Mudbugs are tied for first with 6 points and will be looking to take outright control of the series in the Bayou tonight after the Mudbugs are hoping to use their strong offense that has them to a league best 22 goals in 4 games tonight to be an Americans offense that has a crew of players like Bruce Graham and Tobias Whelan.

Even though it's not the trio of players like Musitelli and Bowers have either moved on to the AHL or elsewhere in the CHL, it's still a group that score like crazy in this league. So it will be interesting to see who will take early control in the CHL's Southern Conference after tonight's game.

After tonight, the rest of the weekend, it's trip to Kansas as the Americans will take on the Wichita Thunder on Saturday Night. For the Mudbugs, it's a trip to Dallas to take on the Texas Brahmas at the very loud NYTEX Sports Center.


Here's this weekends schedule

Dallas Stars

10/23: VS. Nashville Predators    7:00 PM  (TXA 21)


American Hockey League

10/22

San Antonio Rampage VS. Oklahoma City Barons   Just Started at 7:00 PM

Lake Erie Monsters VS. Texas Stars    7:30 PM

Peoria Rivermen VS. Houston Aeros    7:35 PM


10/23

Oklahoma City Barons VS. Toronto Marlies   4:00 PM

Houston Aeros VS. San Antonio Rampage    7:00 PM

Peoria Rivermen VS. Texas Stars    7:00 PM


10/24

Oklahoma City Barons VS. Hamilton Bulldogs   12:00 PM  (NHL Network)

Peoria Rivermen VS. San Antonio Ramapge    3:00 PM

Lake Erie Monsters VS. Houston Aeros    4:00 PM


Central Hockey League

10/22

Odessa Jackalopes VS. Bloomington Paririe Thunder   7:00 PM

Allen Americans VS. Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs   1st Per. 10:58 Just Started

RG Valley Killer Bees VS. Texas Brahmas   7:30 PM


10/23

Odessa Jackalopes VS. Dayton Gems    6:30 PM

Tulsa Oilers VS. Bloomington Prairie Thunder    7:05 PM

Allen Americans VS. Wichita Thunder    7:05 PM

Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs VS. Texas Brahmas   7:30 PM

RG Valley Killer Bees VS. Laredo bucks   7:30 PM



North American Hockey League (NAHL)

10/22

Wichita Falls Wildcats VS. Amarillo Bulls    10:48  1st Just Started

10/23

Texas Tornado VS. Corpus Christi Icerays    7:05 PM

Wichita Falls Wildcats VS. New Mexico Mustangs   8:30 PM


10/24

Texas Tornado VS. Corpus Christi Icerays    3:05 PM

Wichita Falls Wildcats VS. New Mexico Mustangs    6:00 PM

Southwest Weekend Schedule

It's another busy weekend of hockey across the Southwest as the Dallas Stars will highlight it with the final of a 6 game run against Northwest Division teams as the Stars will face off against the Colorado Avalanche tonight as the Stars will face them for the 2nd time this week as the Stars will look for revenge after the Avs beat them 4-0 back on Sunday night. This time though, the game is at home where the Stars have won 7 of their last 8 at the AAC to help them stay in the playoff chase.



Currently the Stars are in 11th right now, but are just 3 points back of 8th place Calgary. After tonight, it's another home game Sunday night against the Phoenix Coyotes where after this game, just 6 games will be left before the NHL'S Olympic Break begins on Feb. 15



All 3 AHL Teams are busy as the Texas Stars have benefited from a bad week from the Milwaukee Admirals, after a 5-2 Texas win on Wednesday, the Admirals loss ed 4-1 to Hamilton last night. It's a weekend set with the Abbotsford Heat, before a heading up north to take on the Peoria Rivermen and Milwaukee Admirals on Sunday and Tuesday on the road.



Texas is currently tied for 2nd with Peoria, but just 1 point back of the Milwaukee Admirals for the West Division Lead. This will be a good shot against a surprising Abbotsford Heat team who is in the midst of the North Division Playoff Race currently in 4th and within striking distance of the Manitoba Moose.



Houston heads up north to Milwaukee on Friday night where hopefully getting them on a losing streak will benefit the Aeros tonight where this will be the only game of the weekend before the Aeros head on the road to face the Peoria Rivermen before coming back home to take on the Abbotsford Heat on 2/1.

San Antonio looks to use the momentum that they found with wins over the Toronto Marlies with a trip to New York to take on the Syracuse Crunch as they are on the early portion of what is called the "Rodeo Road Trip" as the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo will have the AT&T Center busy for the next couple of weeks as they next home game won't be until Feb. 26 when they will finally come back to take on teams throughout the North and West Divisions, and even a rare trip to the East Division tonight.

In the Central Hockey League, the Texas Brahmas and Laredo Bucks will face off in Laredo as the 2 teams are fighting it out for the 3rd spot in the Conference is on a 2 game South Texas Road Trip with games against the Laredo Bucks and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees this weekend.

Their D/FW Rival Allen will host the Corpus Christi Icerayz who are in 7th place tonight, then head up north for a 2 game road trip against the Mississippi Riverkings and the Missouri Mavericks on Saturday and Tuesday.

RGV begins an important stretch of their season where 6 of their next 10 are on the road with a trip to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs before hosting the Texas Brahmas on Saturday, then heading to Corpus Christi to take on the Icerayz on Sunday afternoon.

Finally in the NAHL, the Texas Tornado begin a stretch where 8 of their next 11 games are on the road with a weekend tilt against the Topeka Roadrunners where the Tornado are in Topeka looking to comeback after getting sweeped by the Wichita Falls Wildcats. For the Wildcats, Mike Flanagan continues his reign as the new head coach with a home weekend series against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs.

National Hockey League

1/29: Colorado Avalanche VS. Dallas Stars 7:30 PM

1/31: Phoenix Coyotes VS. Dallas Stars 5:00 PM


American Hockey League

1/29

Abbotsford Heat VS. Texas Stars 7:30 PM

Houston Aeros VS. Milwaukee Admirals 7:00 PM

San Antonio Rampage VS. Syracuse Crunch 6:30 PM


1/30

San Antonio Rampage VS. Lake Erie Monsters 6:30 PM

Houston Aeros VS. Peoria Rivermen 7:00 PM

Abbotsford Heat VS. Texas Stars 7:00 PM


1/31

Texas Stars VS. Peoria Rivermen 6:00 PM


Central Hockey League

1/29

Arizona Sundogs VS Odessa Jackalopes 7:00 PM

Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees VS. Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs 7:00 PM

Corpus Christi Icerayz VS. Allen Americans 7:30 PM

Texas Brahmas VS. Laredo Bucks 7:35 PM

Colorado Eagles VS. Tulsa Oilers 7:35 PM


1/30

Colorado Eagles VS. Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs 7:05 PM

Allen Americans VS. Missouri Mavericks 7:05 PM

Arizona Sundogs VS. Odessa Jackalopes 7:05 PM

Corpus Christi Icerayz VS. Laredo Bucks 7:30 PM

Mississippi Riverkings VS. Tulsa Oilers 7:35 PM

Texas Brahmas VS. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 7:35 PM


1/31

Arizona Sundogs VS. Amarillo Gorillas 4:05 PM

Laredo Bucks VS. Odessa Jackalopes 4:05 PM

Tulsa Oilers VS. Texas Brahmas 4:05 PM

Rio Grande Valley VS. Corpus Christi Icerayz 5:00 PM


North American Hockey League

1/29

Texas Tornado VS. Topeka Roadrunners 7:05 PM

Fairbanks Ice Dogs VS. Wichita Falls Wildcats 7:05 PM


1/30

Texas Tornado VS. Topeka Roadrunners 7:05 PM

Fairbanks Ice Dogs VS. Wichita Falls Wildcats 7:05 PM