First Organized Hockey of the Season Starts Today in Traverse City

Traverse City prospects from 2011 (Credit: Judy True)

After a lockout shuttered year, the Traverse City Prospects Tournament returns in all its glory today in Michigan. The Dallas Stars prospects will face off against prospects from Detroit, Carolina, the New York Rangers, St. Louis, Minnesota, Buffalo and Columbus.

Dallas's roster features many familiar and soon-to-be familiar names for Texas Stars fans, including Brett Ritchie, Alex Chiasson, Matej Stransky, Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak and Jack Campbell. It will also be the first time that many Dallas prospects will be wearing Stars sweaters against another club, including Valeri Nichushkin, Cole Ully, Cody Payne, Jason Dickinson and Philippe Desrosiers.

The first games start this afternoon at 2:30 PM Central with the Rangers and Hurricanes lacing them up for the opening game. Dallas plays its first game against the Blues at 6:00 PM Central. It's just a small prospect tourney, so no, it won't be on radio or TV anywhere. However, thanks to the magic of Twitter, you can at least keep up with scoring by following Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge), who will be at the Tournament.

Once the Tournament finishes on Monday, September 9th, the Stars will shuttle back to Texas with a final destination of Fort Worth, where they will open Dallas Stars training camp on Thursday the 12th.