Playing with Texas house money: Mar 24-30 AHL Report

Texas has been rolling in 2025, securing their spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs and proving that they are a top AHL team on a consistent basis. Going into this week, Texas has already won two games in Chicago on Friday, March 21st, and Sunday, March 23rd, continuing their road trip in Grand Rapids on Wednesday.

Matej Blumel scored in Wednesday’s game. Blumel has gone more than two games without scoring, only twice this season (October 12 - November 1, November 19-29). Blumel is inevitable, and I look forward to seeing if his contributions continue into the playoffs.

Gavin White, Matt Seminoff, and recruit Sean Chisholm scored for Texas in a clean 4-0 win against a formidable division rival in Grand Rapids. Magnus Hellberg earned the 24-save shutout in one of the first games where I saw a confident version of Hellberg. I hope he continues to play well despite losing the starter’s net to Remi Poirier in recent weeks.

In Friday’s game, Texas came to play in Cleveland, with good offensive pressure to force Cleveland to make mistakes. Kole Lind and Arttu Hyry scored in the first period, and Texas entered the 2nd frame up 2-1.

Trey Fix-Wolansky, one of the AHL’s most prolific scorers for Cleveland over the past few years, yet to play significant NHL minutes because of his small frame, scored twice in this game, but goals from Matej Blumel and Kole Lind kept pace with the Monsters. Texas was up 4-3 nearing the halfway point of the third period before Hunter McKown scored to tie the game, even though Texas was out-shooting Cleveland until then. The game went to a shootout, where Matej Blumel and Cameron Hughes scored, and Hellberg was 2/2 to secure the win.

The game was much tighter in Saturday’s rematch against Cleveland and had less back-and-forth. Texas went down 1-0 to end the first period, but fired back in the second period with goals from Kole Lind and Kyle Looft, focusing on defensive structure and good team play for the rest of the game. Despite Cleveland’s efforts, Texas held on and controlled play for the second half of the game, ending in a Matej Blumel empty-netter, but one of extreme significance.

Matej Blumel has officially earned the Texas Stars franchise record for goals in a season (38). He also leads the AHL in goals at this point as well, and he is looking to win the Willie Marshall Award this season as the AHL’s top goal-scorer. There are ~3 weeks left to achieve this.

Player of the week: Cameron Hughes

Week Stats:

Season Stats:

Overall, Texas completed an undefeated 5-game road trip with three strong efforts to win the week. The club reached 40 wins and Matej Blumel broke the team’s goal record, all while away from home. Texas only has three away games left in the season (compared to six home games), which is unfortunate because one could argue that the Stars have made the most of their games on the road this season.

Texas leads the entire AHL at this point in Regulation Wins (17) and Goals For (117), and is currently 4th in the AHL's “away” standings based on Points Percentage (0.667). This can be a good sign of playoff strength when the games get tighter and back-and-forth travel occurs.

As well, beating Grand Rapids this week is huge for the Central Division standings, where Texas now has 83 points, a 4-point lead on Milwaukee (79), while Grand Rapids is stuck at 70. With nine games left for Texas, the team has the inside track to a division title.

For highlights of the Texas Stars’ perfect 5-game road trip, see the following video:

Week ahead:

• Tue Apr 1, 2025 vs. Iowa
• Wed Apr 2, 2025 vs. Iowa
• Sat Apr 5, 2025 vs. Milwaukee
• Sun Apr 6, 2025 vs. Milwaukee

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