This week will be crucial for the Stars as the schedule begins to toughen up as the team currently sits in 11th Place and are still 3 points back of 8th Place Phoenix and will have a chance to catch up as they will play the Calgary Flames on Thursday & the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday with a chance to make up some ground in the playoffs. But first, it's a very tough matchup against the Detroit Red Wings where they won a NHL Record Tying 20 Home Games in a row where they haven't lost since November 1st in a 2-1 OT Loss to the Minnesota Wild when the Wild were on they sup rising start earlier in the season, where, like the Stars have fallen back in the standings recently.
After their critical games against Phoenix, Calgary & Detroit the Stars will finish the week on Sunday Night against the Nashville Predators who are in 5th Place in the West in which the Central Division has been the Group of Death right now where Detroit is leading the Conference with 78 points, while even the Predators and Blues sit in 2nd & 3rd in the Central Division (4th & 5th Conference) with 75 & 70 points respectively in their Conference. If the Regular Season ended today, the Nashville Predators & St. Louis Blues would play each other it would most likely be a very exciting 1st Round Playoff Series.
The Aeros & Rampage both continue their mammoth road trips where both teams won't return home till March (The Aeros on 3/10 & Rampage on 3/3). Houston continues to be in a solid 4th Place, but a struggling Abbotsford Heat team has allowed the Chicago Wolves to overtake them for 5th Place as the Wolves will look to catch up on the Aeros as they would currently hold down the final home ice birth for the Conference Quarterfinals right now.
The Aeros will wrap up their Mid-Western Section of their Road Trip after beating the Grand Rapids Griffins in back-to-back games 5-1 & 5-4 back on 2/10-11 last weekend. Houston will next head to Wisconsin to play the Milwaukee Admirals where they will look revenge after losing 2-1 back on February 5th.
After a game in Wisconsin, the Aeros head to B.C. to take on the Abbotsford Heat for a pair of games on 2/17-18 as they will look to continue the Heat's Woes as they have lost 9 of their last 11 dating back to a January 15th loss in Oklahoma City near the end of their Southwestern Road Trip. Since then, the Heat have fallen from 5th to 7th Place in the Western Conference and are of danger of falling out of the Western Conference Playoff picture as the gap from 7th Place Abbotsford to 11th Place Milwaukee is just 4 points right now as they expecting to see a very desperate Heat Team.
Since winning 7 in a row back in January, the Rampage have used that as a spring board as they continue to overcome their slow start to the season as they have jumped to 6th Place out West after winning 2 of 3 last weekend against the Toronto Marlies & Rochester Americans before ending the weekend with a 7-4 loss to Grand Rapids. This weekend will see the Rampage stay closer to home with a 3 game in 3 night stretch with a Friday/Saturday Set against the last place Texas Stars, then a trip north of the Red River to play the Western Conference Leading Oklahoma City Barons Sunday Afternoon.
Texas will wrap up their short road trip after losses to Rochester & Hamilton will look to end on a positive note against the Lake Erie Monsters Wednesday Morning as the Monsters will be playing in their team's annual School Day Field Trip Game for Cleveland Area Grade School Kids. Following the road trip, the Stars will return home for a Friday/Saturday Series against the San Antonio Rampage.
Oklahoma City will be off until Friday Night as they look to continue to grow their Conference Lead over their Division Rival Houston Aeros & Mid-West Division Leading Charlotte Checkers as they have a weekend series against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday & Saturday followed by a Sunday Afternoon Game against the San Antonio Rampage.
Elsewhere we have a pair of Turner Conference Teams in the Central Hockey League as the Evansville Icemen & Dayton Gems will be coming down South for some important games. Especially for the Ice Men who are battaling with Ft. Wayne for the Turner Conference Lead. The Ice Men will play a pair in Mcallen against the RGV Killer Bees on Tuesday & Wednesday Night, then will head up north to play Tulsa on Friday Night.
While the Gems who for the most part are way out of the Playoff Race, will also play the Oilers on Tuesday Night, then will head South to Dallas to play the Brahmas on Wednesday Night.
Elsewhere in the CHL will have another important series at NYTEX Sports Center as the Killer Bees & Brahmas will play a weekend series as the Killer Bees look to recover after losing a 9-6 game on Sunday Afternoon where at one point, the Killer Bees were able to comeback from 5-1 down in the 2nd period to get the game tied at 5-5 only for the Oilers to pull away in the 3rd period to get a huge win and an important 2 points for the 4th & Final Playoff spot in the Berry Conference.
It will be a slow weekend for the Southwest Area Junior Teams as the Texas Tornado & Dallas Snipers will be having the weekend off in the Dallas Area. Also, Amarillo, Odessa & Wichita Falls also have the weekend off this weekend. That leaves just leaves 2 Junior Series in the Southwest this weekend, 1st in the NAHL, it's the Corpus Christi Icerays hosting the last place New Mexico Mustangs for a pair on Thursday & Friday Night.
Despite the Mustangs being in Last Place, it hasn't been a slam dunk as the Ice Rays are just 4-2-0 in 6 games against New Mexico this season and they looking to rebound after losing 4-of-their-last-5 and letting the lead against Wichita Falls slip to 6 points, however, Corpus Christi does have games in hand against all 3 of their playoff challengers in New Mexico, Wichita Falls & Odessa.
The only WSHL Team hosting a series this weekend is the El Paso Rhinos where they will be playing the Texas Jr. Brahmas for the 2nd straight weekend after taking 2-of-3 against the Jr. Brahmas at NYTEX Sports Center last weekend. The Ice Jets will be heading North to Idaho for a series against one of the WSHL's Best Teams in the Idaho Jr. Steelheads.
This is after a two-and-a-half week layoff since the Ice Jets lost to the Jr. Brahmas 4-2 back on February 1st. The Extended layoff has allowed the El Paso Rhinos to build the Division Lead to 12 points in the Mid-West Division Lead thanks to the last 2 Rhinos Series against the Long Beach Bombers & Park City Moose where they were able to destroy both teams in recent weeks.
Finally, with the Road to Nationals getting in high gear, the area AAA Teams are playing their last handful of Showcase & Tournament Events of the Regular Season. Both the Dallas Stars Elites U18AAA & U16AAA Teams will play their Final Tier 1 Elite League Showcase Events of the Season this weekend as the U18AAA will head to Orland Park, Illinois to play the Great Lakes Division, including the league leading Victory Honda Team.
The U16AAA will head West to Scottsdale,Arizona to play the Rocky Mountain Division Teams as well as the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes to finish the Tier 1 Elite League Regular Season.
Both Teams will be using this to prepare for the Rocky Mountain Tier 1 Regional Tournament that will take place in Denver from 3/1-4. The Winners will quailify for the USA Hockey Tier 1 National Championships that will be in Buffalo, N.Y. from March 28 through April 1.
Also playing one of their final Showcase Events of the Season is the Dallas Ice Jets U16AAA where they head to Woodrige, Illinois which will include a game against the highly touted Shattuck St. Mary's Prep School.
Here's the Full Schedule
NHL
2/14: Dallas Stars VS. Detroit Red Wings 6:30 PM (FSN Southwest)
2/16: Calgary Flames VS. Dallas Stars 7:30 PM (FSN Southwest)
2/18: Dallas Stars VS. Phoenix Coyotes 7:00 PM (KTXA 21)
2/19: Nashville Predators VS. Dallas Stars 6:00 PM (FSN Southwest)
AHL
2/14: Houston Aeros VS. Milwaukee Admirals 7:00 PM
2/15: Texas Stars VS. Lake Erie Monsters 9:45 AM
2/17
Milwaukee Admirals VS. Oklahoma City Barons 7:00 PM
San Antonio Rampage VS. Texas Stars 7:30 PM
Houston Aeros VS. Abbotsford Heat 9:00 PM
2/18
Milwaukee Admirals VS. Oklahoma City Barons 7:00 PM
San Antonio Rampage VS. Texas Stars 7:00 PM
Houston Aeros VS. Abbotsford Heat 9:00 PM
2/19: San Antonio Rampage VS. Oklahoma City Barons 4:00 PM
Central Hockey League
2/14
Evansville Ice Men VS. RGV Killer Bees 7:00 PM
Laredo Bucks VS. Wichita Thunder 7:05 PM
Texas Brahmas VS. Allen Americans 7:05 PM
Dayton Gems VS. Tulsa Oilers 7:05 PM
2/15
Dayton Gems VS. Texas Brahmas 7:00 PM
Evansville Ice Men VS. RGV Killer Bees 7:00 PM
2/17
Allen Americans VS. Dayton Gems 6:00 PM
RGV Killer Bees VS. Texas Brahmas 7:30 PM
Evansville Ice Men VS. Tulsa Oilers 7:35 PM
Laredo Bucks VS. Rapid City Rush 8:05 PM
2/18
Allen Americans VS. Ft. Wayne Komets 6:30 PM
RGV Killer Bees VS. Texas Brahmas 7:30 PM
Laredo Bucks VS. Rapid City Rush 8:05 PM
North American Hockey League
2/16: New Mexico Mustangs VS. Corpus Christi Icerays 7:05 PM
2/17: New Mexico Mustangs VS. Corpus Christi Icerays 7:05 PM
Western States Hockey League
2/17
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Idaho Jr. Steelheads 8:00 PM
Texas Jr. Brahmas VS. El Paso Rhinos 8:30 PM
2/18
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Idaho Jr. Steelheads 8:00 PM
Texas Jr. Brahmas VS. El Paso Rhinos 8:30 PM
2/19
Texas Jr. Brahmas VS. El Paso Rhinos 5:30 PM
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Idaho Jr. Steelheads 8:00 PM
U18AAA
2/17
Texas Tornado VS. Indiana Jr. Ice 10:00 AM
Texas Tornado VS. Carolina Jr. Hurricanes 4:00 PM
2/18
Texas Tornado VS. San Jose Jr. Sharks 8:15 AM
Cleveland Barons VS. Dallas Stars Elites 6:15 PM
2/19
Oakland Grizzlies VS. Dallas Stars Elites 12:15 PM
Texas Tornado VS. West Michigan Hounds 4:00 PM
Belle Tire VS. Dallas Stars Elites 8:15 PM
2/20
Victory Honda VS. Dallas Stars Elites 2:15 PM
U16AAA
2/17
Texas Tornado VS. San Jose Jr. Sharks 10:00 AM
Texas Tornado VS. New Jersey Jr. Titans 4:15 PM
2/18
Texas Tornado VS. Orange County 10:15 AM
Colorado Thunderbirds VS. Dallas Stars Elites 5:30 PM
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Team Illinois 11:40 AM
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Chicago Mission 6:20 PM
2/19
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Chicago Young Americans 8:10 AM
Dallas Stars Elites VS. Russell Stover 11:10 AM
Dallas Ice Jets VS. Shattuck St. Mary 2:00 PM
Colorado Rampage VS. Dallas Stars Elites 7:00 PM
2/20
Dallas Stars Elites VS. Rocky Mountain Roughriders 9:00 AM
Dallas Stars Elites VS. Phoenix Jr. Coyotes 3:00 PM
