Five for Fighting

Stars, Avs 1-1

Magic boy is at it again.

Mike Ribeiro took a pass from Brenden Morrow (who grabbed the loose puck along the boards) and redirected it past Budaj for a 1-0 lead at 8:29. Ribeiro got behind the defender and was all by himself on the right side of the goal for this one. Brunnstrom also got an assist.

The Avalanche got it back at 10:03 with Brian Willsie's unassisted goal.

Opening night

Hey folks,

we're about four minutes into the game, and there's already been a fight and the Stars are on the penalty kill (Aaron Gagnon hold at 2:57). James Neal almost put the Stars up 1-0 on a great pass from Toby Petersen, but Peter Budaj made a nice little pad save.
Here are the lines:
Morrow-Ribeiro-Brunnstrom
Neal-Petersen-Avery
Barch-Lundqvist-Sawada
Benn-Gagnon-Tukonen
Defensive pairings: Fistric-Robidas, Pratt-Niskanen, Vishnevskiy-Grossman

Game on

OK, I am not the biggest preseason game fan that has ever walked the earth. Half of the usual players are sitting, line combos are only partial glimpses of what you'll see come opening day... oh, I could be here forever on how I just want the stinkin' season to start already.

But, there is something about getting the game feel back again, so I'm throwing a little confetti at the thought of the Stars taking the ice again, and against a team that isn't wearing the same jersey. Plus, I get to warm myself up for regular-season blogging again. Hey, those guys aren't the only ones who need to get the practice in before the show starts.

So we'll be seeing you tonight, kids, on the blog. By the way, if you are coming to the game, remember your non-perishable food items for the Hurricane Ike collection.

Shhh!

The NHL apparently has a new policy when it comes to announcing injuries: Teams no longer have to say what the injury is, or how long someone is out with it. You may remember there was something like this two seasons ago, when a lot of injuries were categorized as lower or upper body. I can understand what some of the players and coaches are saying: If someone has an injury that they're playing with, they don't want that player and his injured area being targeted.

This will probably be more helpful for the guys who have those day-to-day deals or players who will be out for a week or two, then back and still healing. Otherwise, if it's a player who's had surgery and is going to be out for a long time, I'm guessing we'll get the info.
Of course, come playoff time, noooobody is talking about injuries. Regardless of new edicts, I don't expect that aspect to change at all.

A new combination?

OK, I'm typing my disclaimer first about how there's only so much you can glean from training camp. It's for coaches and would-be, roster-making players more than anyone. So outside of the top two scoring lines, you can't read a whole ton into combinations drawn up. That being said, the combo of Loui Eriksson-Steve Ott-B.J. Crombeen looked pretty darned good during the team scrimmage today in Frisco.

Crombeen got himself a natural hat trick just as time was running out in the first period, and Ott got the other two goals later in Group B's 5-2 decision over Group A. Krys Barch and Brenden Morrow (on a nice little backhander) scored for Group A.

This is obviously an important time for Crombeen. He's a pretty good player, and he's someone who likes to get to the net; can never have too many net-crashers. He's looking for a spot on this team as much as anyone, and his camp has gone well thus far. Coach Dave Tippett spoke of him pretty highly after today's practice, and said Crombeen also looked good in St. Louis on Tuesday night. So we'll see, eh?
More tidbits:
**Some of the guys you'll see at tomorrow night's preseasoner vs. Colorado: (vets) Mike Ribeiro, Stephane Robidas, Marty Turco, (young'uns) Ray Sawada, James Neal, Jamie Benn, Aaron Gagnon and Ivan Vishnevskiy.
**We could see Philippe Boucher back on the ice by the weekend, according to Tippett. Boucher was still hobbling around a bit this afternoon.
**Francis Wathier has a sore shoulder after taking a hit against St. Louis on Tuesday. Wathier has had his shoulder issues in the past (he's had surgery on both), but this doesn't rank up there with those in terms of severity. Still, he was set to be re-evaluated later today.
**Several of the junior players were sent down. I'll get the names on here in a bit.

Tobias' chance

Hey folks,

Just wondering everyone's thought on Tobias Stephan, who gets the start tonight against the St. Louis Blues. We saw him briefly last season, against the Chicago Blackhawks, and he had to throw his body around the ice and stop 100 shots (OK, 38, but it seemed like more) because the rest of the team didn't show up that night. Granted, that was our only view of him with the big club, but he ended up having a nice season with Iowa.

So the question is: Does he just fill in on nights Marty Turco is tired (he does love getting his games in), or it more like Mike Smith, whose work got him extra starts?

Monday musings

Hey folks,

   The Stars had lengthier practice sessions today, with each group scrimmaging amongst itself instead of the usual A vs. B we've seen the past two days. Not a ton of things to report today (I'll throw the lines below), but the Stars will have their first scrimmage against someone else tomorrow night, when they play the St. Louis Blues. The young players', or JV game, is at 3:30 p.m., with the NHL game coming at 7:30 p.m. Players like James Neal and Ray Sawada will participate in the early contest, and Francis Wathier, Chris Conner and Fabian Brunnstrom will be part of the NHL game. Keep in mind that some of the Stars' big guns won't be playing in St. Louis (Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro).
   Many of the junior players will be heading out of town following that St. Louis game, and the roster should be near 30 by the time the Stars play in Chicago on Sunday. Amazing how quickly this preseason stuff goes, isn't it? Anyway, here are the lines for the respective groups today:
Group A
Modano-Richards-Avery
Ott-Lundqvist-Eriksson
Neal-Gagnon-Conner
Pushkarev-Wathier-Sawada
Defensive pairs: Grossman-Robidas, Daley-Stafford, Ludwig-Stephenson

Group B
Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Barch-Petersen-Crombeen
Tukonen-Sceviour-Brunnstrom
Benn-Lindgren-Wilson
Defensive pairs: Fistric-Niskanen, Pratt-Vishnevskiy, Jancevski-Fortunus

Sunday at the rink

Hey folks,

The Stars kept their schedule the same today, with their scrimmage tucked in the middle of the two practice sessions. Here are some snippets:
** Loui Eriksson is looking pretty darned good. He had two goals and the shootout winner in Group B's 4-3 victory over Group A. You can tell he got a lot of confidence during the postseason, and it's already starting to come through in some of these early practices.
** I've enjoyed watching B.J. Crombeen during these first few days. He's a big forward and he's got a big shot when he decides to use it, but he's been getting to the front of the net over the first three days. And the Stars can always use another guy down there.
** Fabian Brunnstrom seems comfortable with his new teammates. I talked to him about the pressures coming with being a player courted by 20 NHL teams. His response? "I don't mind the pressure." He's got a very cool, calm demeanor about him, and he's loving the learning process in Starsland.
**It's so strange to see Stu Barnes out there in coaching garb instead of pads. I'll miss him in the locker room, but I'm still thrilled he's with this organization.
Here are some of the forward combinations during the scrimmage. Keep in mind, there was some switching (and Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen did not participate in the scrimmage):
(Group A)
Morrow-Perttu Lindgren-Crombeen
Barch-Ribeiro-Brunnstrom
Sergei Korostin-Petersen-Lauri Tukonen
(Group B)
Conner-Richards-Avery
Neal-Aaron Gagnon-Konstantin Pushkarev
Ott-Lundqvist-Sawada

OK, folks. The schedule is a little different tomorrow: Group A will practice/scrimmage from 10 a.m. to noon, with Group B having its session from 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Day 2 musings

Not sure if it's actually Day 1 or Day 2, but since I was out there on the second day, Day 2 it is! Anyway, I'm digressing:

First full day with the Group A & B practices, as well as the scrimmage. So here's a quick rundown of things:
**Group A won the scrimmage. B.J. Crombeen and Krys Barch scored for the A team. Sean Avery scored for Group B. Goaltender Matt Climie had a sweet glove save on a Chris Conner breakaway.
**James Neal is looking pretty good and is feeling confident coming into training camp. Thank his time in the AHL last season, as well as his showing at the prospects tournament last week, for that confidence. The lines were mixed up constantly in the scrimmage, so it's hard to see how one person worked with another for any length of time.
**Jere Lehtinen is the Sergei Zubov of the forwards. Honestly, the guy has a groin tear at the end of last season, spends the summer rehabilitating it, and was skating out there today like it was the third period of a late regular-season game. He looks sharp.
**Philippe Boucher said he'll be fine in about a week. Not so bad, and as he said, he's kind of been through this training camp thing before. After last season's injuries, he'll bide his time through the brevity of this one.
**Sean Avery is just about moved into his new digs. He said he and Brad Richards live in the same building. I would think that would help the chemistry situation if their line with Mike Modano works?
Well, that's about it for the first full day, kids. We'll be back at it tomorrow.

Daily recap with Tracey