Gameday! Rampage @ Stars - Feb 17th 7:30pm: FSSW

San Antonio Rampage

27-21-2-0 7th Place- Western Conference (56 pts)
Last game: Lost to Grand Rapids 7-4 on Feb 12th

Leaders:

Goals: J. Matsumoto 17

Assists: Matsumoto 30

Pts: Matsumoto 47

+/-: M.Cullen/B.Thomas/N.Yonkman  +13

PIM: E. Selleck 142

Wins: D. Grumet-Morris 16

GAA: Grumet-Morris 2.24

Save%: Grumet-Morris .923



 AT

Texas Stars

21-25-2-2 15th- Western Conference (46 pts)
Last game: Lost to Lake Erie 4-3 on Feb 15th

Leaders:

Goals: M. Fraser 23

Assists: T. Morin 34

Points: Morin 42

+/-: F.Wathier +7

PIM: R. Garbutt 96

Wins: A. Raycroft 7

GAA: Raycroft 3.06

Save%: Raycroft .896

Cedar Park Center

Cedar Park, TX

7:30PM CST

Radio courtesy of Ticket 760
TV: FSSW+

 

 Leg 2 of the Rodeo Road Trip continues 99.29 Miles North (Thanks Mapquest) in Cedar Park as the Rampage play the first of back to back games against the last place Stars. The Rampage finished the first leg of the trip with an impressive 3-1 record, the lone loss coming against Grand Rapids on Sunday. The team left their games on the bus with the flat tire 5 minutes outside of Grand Rapids as the Griffins raced out to a 3-0 lead after just 5 minutes. The Rampage eventually got their legs under them and battled back to within one goal late in the 3rd period, but just didn't have enough left in the tank to finish the comeback. Regardless, winning 3 out of 4 with that schedule was more than impressive.

  The Rampage head to Cedar Park today to face a team that, quite frankly, is a bit of a mess right now. In their last 3 games, the Stars have given up 9 goals to Rochester, been shutout by Hamilton, and fell behind 3-0 after one period to Lake Erie before coming back to tie the game, eventually losing 4-3. All three of those teams are currently sitting outside the top 8 in the conference. That said, this weekend has all the makings of a trap. The Rampage travel to OKC for a Sunday match up with the best team in the league and a team that, quite frankly has had the Rampage's number this season. It would be very easy to look past the Stars and get ambushed. The Rampage absolutely MUST get points in both games in Cedar Park. That's a minimum. Anything less than 3 of 4, IMO, is a failure.

  The Rampage are still battling the veteran issue. It appears to me, the Panthers will wait out the injury situation in Florida and the trade deadline to see what, if anything can be done to remedy. I have had some people ask about trading Vernace to eliminate the problem. I asked Dan Weiss the same question when the issue first came up and he told me, "I'm sure they are working the phones. But there aren't a lot of teams even able to take on a veteran". Hopefully, this will be the last weekend we have to wonder what Coach Weber will do. Ed Jovanovski is back skating and Jason Garrison should return to action before next weekends Rampage games. At a minimum, Colby Robak should return before the trip to Peoria.

News and Notes:

• Tyson Strachan was rewarded for his impressive performance since being called up to Florida with a one year one-way contract extension. Very well deserved.
• Dov Grumet-Morris was also rewarded for his outstanding play with a one year AHL contract extension. This was announced as a Rampage contract, but later clarified by Dan Weiss to be an AHL deal from the Panthers organization.
• The Rampage signed former Stars defenseman Tyler Ludwig to a PTO for the weekend. I see this as an insurance move. He can be in as the 6th d-man, allowing all of the vet forwards to play.

  Viewing party at Sideliners tonight. Game on FSSW+ I'll be in Cedar Park tomorrow. Come say hi, I'm not as angry as my twitter feed suggests! Finally, you know whats coming...

LET'S GO RAMPAGE!!!