Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. San Antonio Rampage

           Texas Stars                         San Antonio Rampage

    24-17-4-2, 54 pts, .574      at      24-17-4-0, 52 pts, .578

#3 Pacific Division                       #2 Pacific Division

February 3rd at 7:00 PM
H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, Cedar Park, TX

Life in the Pacific Division can be cruel this season. With the loss last night, Texas swapped advantage with the Rampage and dropped to third place in the division. San Antonio, by 4 thousandths, is now in second place. The Stars can regain that advantage tonight.

(Credit: Texas Stars)

It's going to be uphill though, if this season's trend has anything to say about it. The Stars have a 1-4-2-1 record against the Rampage on the season. Their lone victory came November 15th, a 4-3 win at home. 

Texas will take the ice tonight without the services of Landon Bow in net. Mike McKenna started last night and will likely start tonight as well. Bow was recalled for a likely short stint, backing up Kari Lehtonen tonight in Dallas. The Texas Stars recalled Philippe Desrosiers to fill in for Bow.

Some part of me wonders if Coach Laxdal puts Desrosiers in tonight to see what he can do at this level right now. With the single win in eight tries against the Rampage and the added fact that McKenna played last night and had a .857 save percentage, what's the worst that could happen?

Texas is also without Curtis McKenzie, as his seemingly incidental injury has become more severe and looks to be a 3-4 week ordeal.

Stars injury/call up report:

Bow, Dickinson, Heatherington (call-up)
McKenzie (injury)

Rampage Web Resources
Website: sarampage.com
Blog (unofficial): Runnin' With the Herd
Twitter: @SARampage
Twitter: @DanWeissPBP (play-by-play for SA)