Gameday Preview: Texas Stars at Rockford IceHogs

Texas Stars 2-0-0-0, 4 pts #1 Pacific Division

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Rockford IceHogs 1-1-0-0, 2 pts #4 Central Division

October 17th at 7:00 PM

BMO Harris Bank Center, Rockford, IL

After last night's 7-3 victory in Chicago, Texas has no time to rest as they bus out west of the Windy City for a set of two against the Rockford IceHogs. The Stars were last in Rockford in April when the Hogs eliminated the defending Cup champions from the playoffs in a 3-0 sweep. Stephen Johns, now a Texas Star, scored the game-winning overtime goal to seal the series. Tonight will surely be an interesting one for him as he faces off against so many former teammates in a building that he used to call home.

Rockford has only played two games as well so far on the season. A member of the Central Division, they've already made their first trip to the West Coast for the season. Tonight's game will be their home opener as the club spent last Friday and Saturday in San Jose and Stockton, respectively. They defeated the Barracuda 4-2 then got throttled by the Heat 7-0. With a week off to assess that loss and the furor of the hometown fans behind them, they will be a tough card tonight for Texas.

The Stars shuffled things up pretty well last night after finding out that Radek Faksa would be heading to the NHL. Cole Ully and Matej Stransky stepped in for Curtis McKenzie and Faksa and each had a goal and an assist. Not bad for guys coming off the bench.

Tonight's contest could see Maxime Lagace make his season debut in net. With a 3-in-3 sequence in Illinois here, Muse is unlikely to get all three starts.

Stars injury/call up report:
McKenzie, Campbell, Faksa (call up)

Website: icehogs.com
Blog (unofficial): Rockford IceHogs Fan Blog
Twitter: @goicehogs