Capital City Sports Report

Cedar Park Center tickets stamped with Stars

In the Battle of Stars, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League easily handled and defeated the Texas Stars, Dallas’ Triple-A Affiliate, 5-1, in the first-ever sporting event played at Cedar Park Center.

A crowd of 6,323 turned out on the opening night at the new Cedar Park venue and saw Dallas Stars’ forward James Neal put it in the back of the net twice. Dallas forwards Toby Peterson, Mike Ribeiro and Fabian Brunnstrom each added a tally in the victory.

For the Texas side, it was forward Perttu Lindgren who scored the lone goal.

Veteran goalkeeper Marty Turco had 12 saves for Dallas stopping every shot he faced and he picked up the victory in just over 30 minutes worth of work. Texas goalkeeper Alex Auld was able to handle 14 of 17 shots in the loss.

For the holders of Cedar Park Center tickets, they saw Dallas strike first in the opening period with a pair of goals. Stars forward Toby Peterson blasted a shot past Auld 7:56 into the contest to put the visitors on the board first with a 1-0 lead. Dallas wasn’t finished. With 3:31 remaining in the first period, Dallas pushed its lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal when James Neal redirected a shot Brad Richards fired from the point.

The parent club added another goal in the second when Ribeiro beat Auld on a one-timer.

Texas managed to find the net just once on the night and it came with just five minutes remaining in the second period. It came when Texas center Perttu Lindgren tipped a Sergei Korostin shot, that snuck past Dallas goalie Brent Krahn and cut the Dallas lead to 3-1.

In the third, the Stars of the NHL iced the game with two early goals from winger Fabian Brunnstrom and Neal’s second goal of the night for the final 5-1 tally.

While the home team didn’t get the victory, it was a great opportunity for Texas Stars tickets holders to see the top-level talent that will be playing 40 more times at the Cedar Park Center during the 2009-2010 season.

Posted in Hockey