Someway, Somehow, the Texas Stars Are Back in the Calder Cup Playoffs

 

(Credit: Nicholas Kingman/ 100 Degree Hockey)

It feels like a lifetime ago when the fans at the HEB Center at Cedar Park were losing their composure.

When the Texas Stars tied for their worst loss in franchise history — a 10-1 drumming to the seemingly invincible Grand Rapids Griffins, it was no shocker to hear the hardest chant for a head coach to swallow in professional sports.

“Fire [insert name],” accompanied by rhythmic clapping over and over and over again until out of the line of sight and into the safe confines of the locker room.

Stars head coach Toby Petersen, in his first year on the job, heard his name in the stands while walking back into the locker room in defeat. At the time, Texas was one of the worst teams in the AHL, with a dismal 5-9-1 record.

The loss was so jarring that Texas captain Curtis McKenzie walked out of the tunnel and voluntarily spoke with the media.

“We just got to look inside and find the drive on why we play this game and find some compete,” McKenzie said following the 10-1 loss. “That effort there, probably no one in the lineup there looked like we should be in this league tonight.”

For much of the early part of the season, the only production came from the Stars' blueline, with the only forward really doing anything offensively being Cam Hughes.

Much of the Texas roster was “green” for large swaths of the season, with a bunch of younger bottom-six forwards being thrust into major ice-time.

Petersen was also missing major pieces like Arttu Hyry and fellow Finn, Samu Tuomaala, due to injury. The valuable veteran presence was also gone, with Kyle Capobianco and Alex Petrovic up in Dallas for almost the entire year.

It took until January for the Stars to tread out of the mud to finally find their identity, but they are doing it at the right time — in the heart of the playoff crunch.

“The progress this team has shown throughout the course of the season is remarkable,” Petersen said. “I can’t say enough about the leadership, the guys buying in and doing the right things.”

Much of Texas’ success has fallen on the shoulders of netminder Remi Poirier, who has started the second-most games in net in the entire AHL this season. Behind the play of Poirier, the Stars have been able to dig themselves out of the early-season hole.

And like he did last season during his second-half resurgence, Poirier dominated the month of March with a 7-2 record for a 2.27 goals allowed average and a .934 save percentage. In all, Poirier is 14-2 in the last full month of games.

“When you struggle the most, you learn the most when you struggle,” Poririer said. “We took the lesson from the beginning of the year and kept going. You’re going to lose a couple of games in a row — it’s going to happen, but just show up to the next one.”

Despite the Stars bolstering zero “hot” prospects on their roster, general manager Scott White has done it again, picking up diamonds in the rough like Texas native Cross Hanas this past offseason for his most productive professional season, and signing another group of talented college kids to load up on the playoff push.

The Stars have also found production from Matthew Seminoff, Jack Becker, and Harrison Scott in the back half of the season.

Somehow, Texas revived a season that was quickly drowning for its fifth consecutive appearance in the Calder Cup Playoffs. As it stands right now, the Stars will avoid a first-round tilt, nestled comfortably at the Central Division’s third seed with six games left in the regular season.

“There’s been some ups and downs, but we've battled through, and in the end we’ve persevered,” Petersen said. “After a lot of the games, we’ve talked about perseverance… there’s been some bumps and bruises, but our guys keep finding ways to win hockey games.”