The Texas Stars Will Win the Central Division

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

Despite this week's results, the Texas Stars will win the Central Division.

Now, this is not a mathematically locked in quite yet, but let's look at the next few weeks and the standings.

With seven games remaining, Texas leads the division by four. Their next-closest competitor for the crown is Milwaukee, who they play this weekend and over whom they have a game in hand. Prior to the pair against Iowa, Texas had three games in hand.

Unfortunately, they squandered the chance at four points and making it that much more certain of a case. Before the pair against Iowa, Texas had the lowest strength of schedule for their remaining games in the entire

Their magic number to clinch the division is down to just nine now. Milwaukee's magic number is all the way up at 19. This weekend's game are critical to maintaining that edge.

Next week's contests bring an always challenging three-in-three on the road with Grand Rapids twice and Chicago to close it out. The Stars are 4-2 against GR this year and 4-2-1 against Chicago.

They'll close it out with the bottom-dwelling and unlikely to make the playoffs Manitoba Moose at home. They only need nine of a possible 14 points. They've been racking up points at a pace that puts them right on target for nine. Also don't forget that points against Milwaukee also count double since that's the team chasing Texas for the division crown.

Let's experiment. Let's say it's a rough stretch, and they split each series with Milwaukee, GR and Manitoba but beat Chicago. That's seven points in the standings but stealing two from the Ads, which would seal it up for Texas. Oh, and that also assumes that Milwaukee doesn't lose any of their other games. Looking at the Ads' schedule (@IA, CHIx2, RFD), it is possible that they do sweep that crew. Texas might need every point.

All that being said, Texas will do it. They will raise a banner on this season.