Iowa Stars Weekly

April 7, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Iowa Chops News Release


THE STARS TELESCOPE - A LOOK AHEAD

Tuesday, April 8

Stars vs. San Antonio Rampage 7:07 pm CDT

Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA

Broadcasts: Jim Erickson online and on B2 Video at iowastarshockey.com and in-arena on 104.7 FM.

The Stars and Rampage meet for the eighth and final time, but have not seen each other since Jan. 5 when the Stars dropped a 3-2 overtime decision. The Stars are 2-3-2-0 against the Rampage this season, 1-1-1-0 at home. San Antonio punched their ticket for the Calder Cup playoffs over the weekend when Peoria lost to Houston on Sunday. The Rampage is coming off a 2-1 loss at Milwaukee on Sunday and head into the final week of the regular season 4-6-0-0 in their last 10 games. San Antonio has slipped to fifth in the division and will cross over into the North Division playoffs if they remain in fifth. The Stars enter this week after a close 2-1 defeat at Quad City on Saturday. The Stars are 4-5-0-1 in their last 10 games, are one game below .500 and four points back of Quad City for seventh place.

Friday, April 11

Stars at Quad City Flames 7:05 pm CDT

I-Wireless Center, Moline, IL

Broadcasts: Jim Erickson online and on B2 Video at iowastarshockey.com

The Stars and Flames close out their 12-game season series on Friday night in Moline. The Stars are 3-5-0-3 this season against the Flames after falling at Moline 2-1 last Saturday night. The Flames were officially eliminated from the playoffs shortly after the game Saturday night when Milwaukee defeated Houston.

Saturday, April 12

Stars at Peoria Rivermen 7:00 pm CDT

Carver Arena, Peoria Civic Center, Peoria, IL

Broadcasts: Jim Erickson online and on B2 Video at iowastarshockey.com

The Stars play their 10th and final game against the Rivermen in Peoria on Saturday night. Like the Stars, the Rivermen will also not be participating in the Calder Cup playoffs this season after being eliminated on Sunday in a 5-0 loss to Houston. The Stars have lost just once in Peoria in four games and are 6-3-0-0 overall in the season series.

Sunday, April 13

Stars at Rockford IceHogs 4:05 pm CDT

Rockford MetroCentre, Rockford, IL

Broadcasts: Jim Erickson online and on B2 Video at iowastarshockey.com

The Stars' 2007-08 campaign comes to a close with their eighth meeting with the IceHogs. The Stars have a 2-4-1-0 head-to-head record with the IceHogs this season, 1-1-1-0 in Rockford. The IceHogs enter the week having clinched a playoff berth, but also trying to hold onto the second seed in the West Division. After last weekend, Rockford has 94 points, two points ahead of Houston and Milwaukee and four points ahead of San Antonio.

STARS RECAP

Tuesday, April 1

Quad City 4 Stars 3 (SO) at Wells Fargo Arena

James Neal scored two goals for the Stars in his first career multi-point game, but the Stars would need a shoot-out goal to overcome the Flames at Wells Fargo Arena Tuesday night. The Stars picked up a point but it will not be enough to keep them in the west division playoff race as they needed to ‘win out' in order to keep their chance alive. The Stars got off to a hot start with a goal by Neal less than two minutes in. Neal snapped the shot over the left shoulder of Quad City netminder Curtis McElhinney off a pass from Marty Sertich at the top of the circle. Raymond Sawada also got a helper on the play, his second professional point. The Stars would finish the period with just six shots on goal to Quad City's 10. The Flames were able to find the equalizer in the first at 7:31 when Kris Kolanos netted a pass from Tim Ramholt and David Van der Gulik. The second period was one of hard hits and shots, but no goals until Neal scored his second of the night at 15:49. During a rough series in the Flames zone Neal received a pass from Perttu Lindgren and fired it low glove-side in on McElhinney. Chris Lee picked up his 19th assist of the campaign on the goal as well. The Stars outshot the Flames 17-4 in the period and gained the overall shot advantage 23-15. Marty Sertich scored his team leading 22nd goal of the campaign just two minutes into the third period. Sertich took a rebound pass from Raymond Sawada and Dan Jancevski to tally his team leading 13th multi-point game. The Flames came right back with a power play goal by Derek Couture that snuck through the legs of Iowa goaltender Matt Climie who was making his home ice debut at Wells Fargo Arena. The Flames evened the score again at three with a long shot by Van der Gulik that just trickled in. The two teams were scoreless in overtime and registered just two shots on goal apiece. The Flames were able to get two shoot-out goals in on Climie while the Stars could not break through on McElhinney. The Stars finished the game with the shot advantage 29-27.

Friday, April 4

Stars 5 Peoria 3 at Wells Fargo Arena

The Stars scored the first three goals of the night and then held on to a 5-3 win over the Peoria Rivermen Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Tobias Stephan got the win for the Stars as he stopped 27 of 30 shots on the night and James Neal lead the way at the offensive end with a pair of goals. Tommy Wandell started the scoring for the Stars just :12 seconds into the game. James Neal scored his first goal of the night with just under 2 minutes in the opening period to give the Stars a 2-0 lead headed into the first intermission. The Stars also had the lone goal of the 2nd period. Perttu Lindgren found the back of the net off of a centering feed from Chris Conner, Konstantin Pushkarev also had an assist on the goal, one of two assists for him on the night. In the third period the Rivermen tried to mount a comeback as they scored a pair of powerplay goals, both times with an empty net behind them. They scored once again after a Trevor Byrne goal had made it 4-2 to bring it to 4-3. But Neal finished things off with an empty net goal to preserve the win, 5-3.

Saturday, April 5

Quad City 2 Stars 1 @ Quad City

The Quad City Flames snapped a five game home losing streak with a 2-1 win over the visiting Iowa Stars Saturday night at the I-Wireless Center in Moline, IL. The loss gave the Stars a season high four-game road losing streak while also dropping them back below the .500 mark at 34-35-4-3. The Flames scored the only goal of the first two periods as they held a 1-0 advantage entering the third period. Stars defenseman Bryce Lampman tied the score with 2:08 only to have Carsen Germyn tip a trickling puck that had found its way behind Tobias Stephan in the crease just 15 seconds later. Stephan made 32 saves while Quad City counterpart Matt Keetley made 29. The Stars fell back to four points behind the Flames for seventh in the West Division. The two teams will close out their 12 game season series next Friday night at the I-Wireless Center.

IN THE COMMUNITY: Out and Around Des Moines & Neighboring Communities

STARS PROMOTIONS/APPEARANCES:

 Monday, April 7th - "Stars Powerplay" live from Scooter and Babs Sports Bar & Grille on 1350 KRNT

 Wednesday, April 9th - Stars Season Ticket Holder Banquet at Prairie Meadows Casino

 Monday, April 14th - FINAL "Stars Powerplay" broadcast from Scooter and Babs Sports Bar & Grille on 1350 KRNT



American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2008


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