Weekend Preview
The New Mexico Ice Wolves have left for North Richland Hills, Texas, for their first two preseason games of the season. After a shorter practice, coach Kevin Hartzell noticed the excitement from the players as the weekend approached, “It was a really short day today, we worked on some fundamentals and some faceoff plays. All of the players and coaches are really excited for the weekend and we’ll get a good idea of what we have.”
Saturday, August 31, the first game of the preseason the Ice Wolves take on the defending Robertson Cup champions the Lone Star Brahmas. The Brahmas eliminated the Ice Wolves in the second round of the NAHL South Division Playoffs last season during their journey to win the cup. Although it’s only preseason the returning players haven’t forgotten about last season. The team will have to wait until December 20 and 21 for the first regular season matchup that will also take place at the Nytex Sports Centre.
Sunday, September 1, the second and final road preseason game will take place this time against the Oklahoma Warriors. The Warriors will have a new look on the ice as four-year head coach Garrett Roth departed after last season and is the new coach of the Bismark Bobcats. The Warriors took five of the eight contests last season. This year the teams will play all eight games against each other during a thirty-six day stretch.
Fans can watch both of these games this weekend on NATV with the Saturday game starting at 6:30 p.m. MT and the Sunday game starts at 3 p.m. MT. After the weekend the team will head back to practice for training camp as the team prepares to welcome in the US Natioinal Team – NTDP for the final two preseason games September 13 and 14 at the Outpost Ice Arenas.
