Exclusive: Texas Stars to Host Play-In Games in Frisco if They Fall to Fourth

H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
(Credit: Nicholas Kingman/100 Degree Hockey)

100 Degree Hockey has learned that the Texas Stars will host their three 'home' play-in games at the Comerica Center in Frisco, a suburb in north Dallas, if the team falls to fourth in the division.

If the Stars finish in fourth, they will be set to host the fifth place finisher for a best-of-three series the week after the regular season ends. However, Texas' home arena, H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, is occupied by Disney on Ice from Wednesday, April 22 to Monday, April 27. The events themselves will be Thursday through Sunday with a load in/out day before and after.

If Texas needs to host those games, there is simply no way to have ice available on a reasonable timeframe to have proper rest and travel time after the season as well as complete the series before the first round begins.

In this scenario, Texas will decamp from Cedar Park and play those three games in Frisco thusly:

• Game 1 - Wednesday, April 22
• Game 2 - Thursday, April 23
• Game 3 - Sunday, April 26 (if necessary)

Michael Delay, Chief Operating Officer for the Texas Stars and General Manager of H-E-B Center, told 100 Degree Hockey:

"We are fortunate to have a busy arena and a successful hockey team. Disney On Ice schedules a year or more in advance and is an important part of our event mix.  Annually, none of the options come without potential conflicts with Texas Stars regular season scheduling or playoff home games. We are grateful to have another arena in the family to host our home playoff games."

When the team's regular season schedule was sorted, there was a one-in-seven chance that this issue would come up (seven teams in the division). Texas had to finish in the fourth place position for this issue to arise. While less than ideal, the alternative is to cede home ice entirely to the fifth-place club, likely Milwaukee, and play those games in Wisconsin. That is certainly a nonstarter.

The team plans to email season ticket holders within the next few hours to put tickets on sale. Playoff ticket strips, offered to season ticker holders to secure their seats for the playoffs, will not include games at Comerica Center. Those seats will need to be purchased separately. 

Further, those tickets will be purchased through the Comerica Center ticketing system, and no Texas Stars ticket reps will be able to assist with those purchases. A team representative noted to 100 Degree Hockey that season ticket holders will be able to use their first playoff game free promotion for the first game at the Comerica Center or the first game at the H-E-B Center, if Texas makes it to the first round.

One clear challenge will be that H-E-B Center holds 6,778, but Comerica Center is listed at 3,500. The season ticket base will make up a significant portion of that 3,500, but you have to imagine that games on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday in an arena three hours away from home will put an upper bound on how many make the trip.

Of course, Texas can avoid the entire sticky situation by earning the third seed and letting Mickey and Minnie have the ice uncontested that weekend. In that scenario, Texas would get Disney On Ice weekend off and start their series against Chicago at home in the H-E-B Center the following weekend.

Their four losses this past week put them in this position. Their coming four potential points this weekend against Rockford could not be more important.