San Antonio Rampage (0-0-0) 84pts in 2010 (6th in Western Division)
The defending West Division Champs bring their high powered attack to the Alamo City to take on the upstart San Antonio Rampage. The Wolves are led by AHL superstars Jason Krog and Darren Haydar up front, Arturs Kulda (and his ridiculous +47 from 2010) on defense, and two quality AHL goalies in Peter Mannino and Drew MacIntyre. The Wolves are, once again, expected to compete for not only a another division title, but also a possible berth in the Calder Cup Finals.
This is a great test for this new Rampage team to open up the season. The Wolves went deep in last years playoffs, losing to Texas in the Western Division Finals. They should be equally as good, if not better, with the addition of Darren Haydar (23-41-64pts in Lake Erie) and Patrick Rismiller (20-27-47pts between Grand Rapids and Hartford). The Rampage, however, did add former Wolves forward Tim Stapleton and, with his addition, really solidified the top 3 lines on offense. The defense has a very nice mix of experience and youth with tremendous upside.
I've never been much at predicting lines, but based on what I've seen, I expect the following lines/pairings to start:
Tikhonov-Stapleton-Boedker
Picard-Ebbett-MacLean
Beaudoin-Kearns-MacArthur
Hollweg-Long-Neilson
Yonkman-Summers
Ahnelov-Stafford
Ross-Stone
And finally Matt Climie in net.
Good luck to the Rampage in their home, and season, opener tonight. Let's hope for a well played and injury free game. Let's also hope for a great crowd that can welcome our new players with open arms and loud voices. See you all at the barn.
LET'S GO RAMPAGE!!
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