This week begins the steady march to opening night for the Texas Stars. Out in Michigan, a collection of draft picks and prospects will play in the Traverse City Tournament. Here's a rough outline of all the events that take us to Opening Night.
September 7-11 - Traverse City Tournament
As mentioned above, Traverse is a prospect tournament pitted young players from eight different NHL teams against each other in a quick four-game tournament format. Everyone plays everyone else in their division and then first plays first, second plays second, etc. The team is coach by Texas head coach Derek Laxdal and features a boatload of current Texas Stars, including Nick Caamano, Tony Calderone, Roope Hintz, Sam Laberge, Joel L'Esperance, Niklas Hansson, Miro Heiskanen, John Nyberg, and Ondrej Vala.