(1) Hamilton Bulldogs vs (2) Texas Stars Preview; Winner Advances to Calder Cup Finals
This is a quick preview of the up-coming Western Conference Finals for the Texas Stars before they take on the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Stars Leading Regular Season Scorer: Aaron Gagnon, 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists).
Bulldogs Leading Regular Season Scorer: David Desharnais, 78 points (27 goals, 58 assists).
Stars Leading Regular Season Goalie: Matt Clime, 2.46 Goals Against (21 wins, 17 losses).
Bulldogs Leading Regular Season Goalie: Cedrick Desjardins, 2.00 Goals Against (29 wins, 9 losses).
Something worthwhile about the Stars: Texas is the first AHL team to reach the conference finals in their inaugural season since the Binghamton Senators in 2003. The Senators beat the Bulldogs to win the Calder Cup that year.
Something worthwhile about the Bulldogs: The Bulldogs are in the conference finals for the fourth time in nine years, tied with Hershey and Chicago for the most appearances since the league’s 2001 expansion.
Something interesting about the Stars connected to the Hamilton Bulldogs: The Stars’ roster features Dan Jancevski, who captured the Calder Cup with Hamilton in 2007
Something interesting about the Bulldogs connected to the Texas Stars: Since a 5-0 home loss to Texas on Feb. 16, Hamilton is 26-7-0-3 overall and 16-3-0-1 at Copps Coliseum their home arena.
Who needs to be the difference for the Stars: Matt Climie: With the Stars starting Goalie, Brett Krahn, dealing with a concussion; Matt Climie has to step up here and lead this team to the Calder Cup Finals. Hamilton is not known for scoring a lot of goals, and the Stars can get offense from Jamie Benn, Francis Wathier, and Maxime Fortunus. Nobody knows when someone is fully recovered from a concussion, so Climie will have to be ready to step in to fill the big shoes that Krahn has made so far.
Who needs to be the difference for the Bulldogs: Mike Glumac: Not only are the Bulldogs 6-0 when he scores a goal, Glumac leads the team in the Playoffs in goals (8). The Stars like to play that fast-paced north to south, east to west hockey. So if the game starts to rely heavily on the offense, Glumac will be looked upon to carry this team back to the Calder Cup Finals.
Prediction: Like the last series, the Stars open on the road playing Game 1 and 2 in Hamilton. However, un-like their last series Hamilton is actually better on the road (25-10-2-3 home vs. 27-7-1-5 away)
For Hamilton, they have experience on their side as advance here and it will be their third Calder Cup Final since 2003.
Prediction: Jamie Benn is playing out of his mind right now, and if Krahn can recover from his concussion then, this is the Stars series to win. Stars 4-1
Series Games:
Game 1 – Fri., May 14 – Texas at Hamilton, 6:30 CT
Game 2 – Sun., May 16 – Texas at Hamilton, 1:00 CT
Game 3 – Wed., May 19 – Hamilton at Texas, 7:30 CT
Game 4 – Fri., May 21 – Hamilton at Texas, 7:30 CT
*Game 5 – Sat., May 22 – Hamilton at Texas, 7:00 CT
*Game 6 – Mon., May 24 – Texas at Hamilton, 6:30 CT
*Game 7 – Wed., May 26 – Texas at Hamilton, 6:30 CT
(*-If Necessary)
Regular Season Match-Up:
Oct. 24. HAM 2 at TEX 1 (SO)
Feb. 16. TEX 5 at HAM 0
Season Series: HAM 1-1-0-0 TEX 1-0-0-1
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