Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. Iowa Wild

Texas Stars 3-1-1-1, 8 pts #3 Central Division

v.

Iowa Wild 3-1-0-0, 6 pts #4 Central Division

October 20th at 7:00 PM

H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, Cedar Park, TX

UPDATE: Roope Hintz has been sent to the Texas Stars. Elgin Pearce was assigned to Idaho.

Texas handed the Wild their first loss of the season last night here in Cedar Park. The frenetic third period, headed up by two rookies, put the Stars past Iowa. Joel L'Esperance and Ben Gleason were the headlinders.

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

"[L'Esperance] is a big heavyset centerman," said Laxdal last night. "He reminds a lot of Jay Beagle when I brought him out of college in Idaho, and that’s kind of the comparisons we’re trying to use with him. He’s got an offensive upside, he’s a big heavy player and his skating’s getting better; he’s gaining confidence. He plays a heavy game and he’s got a good skillset."

Switching Ben Gleason to the top PP unit last night helped further activate a special teams crew that is now sixth in the league (26.9%). Iowa is also hot. Going into last night, they were fifth and now they're 3rd (33.3%).

"We’ve needed to score a lot more goals on the power play," said Gleason. "And it’s been working for us the last couple of games and right now it’s working."

Stars injury/call up report:
Scarlett (season-ending ACL injury)