| Texas Stars 3-4-0-0, 6 pts #13 Western Conference | at | Chicago Wolves 2-4-0-2, 6 pts #14 Western Conference |
October 29th at 7:00 PM
Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL
Texas continues its tour of the Midwest Division with a stop this evening in Rosemont, IL, to visit the Chicago Wolves. The Wolves have had a few changes of their own over the summer, most notably an affiliation change. With the move of Atlanta to Winnipeg, the Wolves were picked up by the Vancouver Canucks as their primary affiliate. Some of the names from the Wolves roster are the same, such as Haydar , but you'll recognize most as coming from last year's Moose roster.
The Wolves are also mired in some early season difficulty, tied with the Stars in points at just six. They fell last night to Milwaukee at home 2-1 in a hard fought tight game. Their goalie, former Texas Star Matt Climie, received third star in the losing effort. Also in nets for Chicago is Eddie Lack, last year's outstanding rookie netminder from Manitoba. The two have almost identical stats. Climie is 2.36 GAA and .942 SV%, and Lack is 2.33 and .926.
The Stars would like nothing more than to continue their success from last season against the Wolves. In six meetings last season, Texas emerged victorious in every one, including a record setting 8-2 win. The Stars will face Chicago four times this season.
Once again for Texas, we're looking and a Jekyll and Hyde situation on special teams. The Stars lead the league in PP%, bumping that number to 38.5% with a 2/6 effort on Thursday. However, they are second to last on the PK at 71.4% and, to make matters worse, taking far more penalties than in previous years (#11 in the league at 20.14). It's a bad combination, especially when 5-on-5 scoring is touchy at best. It's a long season, but playoff teams do not have this kind of disparity between the three modes of play. It has to be rectified.
Stars injury/call up report:
Fortunus (day-to-day)
Website: chicagowolves.com
Blog (official): UnMic'd with Jason Shaver
Message Board: Wolves Forum
Twitter: @Chicago_Wolves
Twitter: @theshaves (Wolves PxP)
Message Board: Wolves Forum
ReplyDeleteThat's a dead link. The team abandoned their forum after massive spam attacks.
Try this: www.wolfkeeper.org
They'be been in business since the IHL.