| Texas Stars 11-10-8-0, 30 pts #11 Western Conference | v. | Charlotte Checkers 11-15-2-1, 25 pts #13 Western Conference |
December 27th at 7:00 PM
Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX
Underneath the tree this year, the Charlotte Checkers found plane tickets to Austin. They'll come off their holiday break to visit the Texas Stars tonight in Cedar Park. The Checkers are one of two teams in the West Division behind Texas in the standings. The gap seems large, but a head-to-head win tonight for the Checkers could do a lot to close it.
Charlotte hit the break with a good burst of momentum. They defeated the San Antonio Rampage in a grinding 3-1 game where they netted an ENG to seal the deal in the final 15 seconds of the game. Drew MacIntyre, the goalie who got that win for the Checkers, is guaranteed not to be in net for them tonight, however. MacIntyre was selected by Scott White and the Team Canada staff to play in the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland this week. He backed up Nolan Schaefer in Canada's 2-1 loss to host HC Davos yesterday. Team Canada, which features former Texas Star Mike Hedden, will play KHL club Zagreb today.
In other tourney news, in the World Junior yesterday, Julius Honka and Finland fell to the USA in a shootout yesterday in Montreal. Honka will play again today against a Slovakia squad, which includes potential future Stars teammate, Matej Paulovič.
Ahead of tonight's game, the Stars announced that Dallas has recalled defenseman Cameron Gaunce to Dallas. Texas has no shortage of defensemen, however. They recalled Mike Dalhuisen yesterday in an unannounced roster move. That leaves them with Fortunus, Meech, Oleksiak, Hardowa, Wrenn, Mangene and Dalhuisen. Oleksiak is the only Texas Star on the roster with a Dallas contract currently.
Stars injury/call up report:
Morin, Jokipakka, Gaunce (call up)
Troock, Stefishen (injury)
Honka (World Junior)
Website: gocheckers.com
Checkers Social Media: Social Media
Blog (unofficial): Chasing Checkers
Twitter: @checkershockey
Twitter: @N_Niedzielski (former Texas Stars intern, now Checkers Communications)
Twitter: @PaulBranecky
It's put up or shut up time. We have to beat the Checkers tonight and then hopefully add another one against the Rampage tomorrow. This team has too much talent to flounder the way they have. We're running out of time and excuses. We need the veteran players to step up their game.
ReplyDeleteStars called up Idahos back up goalie, his save percentage (in the ECHL) is worse than our goalies. That's thinking outside the box! Most teams would...I don't know...maybe got a guy who you could take a shot at getting some ice time here and helping out. Nice jobs Stars. Looks like the Stars are in full 2011-2012 mode.
ReplyDelete