It's finally time for preseason hockey to begin with tonight's game against the St. Louis Blues. It will be a fun night of kicking off sports at the American Airlines Center for the season. I'm sure everyone is still exhausted from going to the Tate McCrae concert the other night. However, your Dallas Stars need you to cheer them on to victory even though it's the preseason. You have to show the prospects how we do hockey down here in Texas.
Now I'm not trying to sound like a rude person, but I want to help the new followers of Dallas Stars hockey realize they won't be seeing their favorites playing in game 1 of the preseason. Now, while I would love to see Jake Oettinger school some younger players by shutting them down, they don't want to risk an injury to a player of his caliber before the season even starts. You will most likely see Oettinger play in the final two preseason games to rev up his engine before taking on the Winnipeg Jets to open the season.
You are going to see players like Cameron Schmidt and Emil Hemming get some playing time tonight before they head back to their junior hockey clubs for the year. The first three preseason games also allow Toby Petersen to form the team he wants down in Cedar Park for the year. They begin training camp shortly after the preseason games get underway, and determining which players will play down near Austin takes precedence over giving preseason minutes to players like Mikko Rantanen or Roope Hintz.
In conclusion, enjoy watching the Stars' prospects get some playing time in a victory green sweater tonight. It's fun watching the future of the Dallas Stars, even if they get blown out tonight. These games don't mean anything towards the Stars' overall record and allow the prospects to fight for roster spots in Cedar Park. Just enjoy the fact that hockey is back at the American Airlines Center after a long summer. It's great to see the ice on the AAC floor, and bodies will be flying into the boards tonight.