El Paso, TX to hold Kraft Hockeyville USA preseason game

Hockeyville USA has picked their winner, and it’s El Paso, Texas! The Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes will face off in a preseason game on October 3rd.

Yesterday, the NHL and NHLPA announced that Hockeyville USA would host a preseason game in El Paso, Texas on October 3rd at 7 PM MT at El Paso County Events Center. This will be the only time that Arizona and Dallas will meet up during the preseason, so it’s bound to be a fun game to watch!

Not only will the town get to host the preseason game, but they’ll also get $150,000 in rink upgrades from Kraft Heinz and $10,000 worth of new equipment from the NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund. The town rallied together and proved that they were America’s most hockey-oriented town after pulling the most online votes in the competition.

It will be interesting to see the Arizona Coyotes play the Dallas Stars, as they haven’t been in the same division as the Dallas Stars until this year, where they’ve been realigned to play in the Central Division, while the Kraken join the Pacific Division. They didn’t play the Dallas Stars at all last year, with the NHL only playing intra-division games due to COVID-19. This will be the first time they’ve played the Stars since the 2019-2020 season.

In my opinion, the Dallas Stars are the stronger team, but the Arizona Coyotes have made some interesting moves in the offseason that might bolster their team and make them contenders against the Stars. While they lost their captain in the Oliver Ekman-Larsson/Conor Garland trade, they did gain Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, and Antoine Roussel. They also gained defenseman Conor Timmins from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Darcy Kuemper.

This does leave the Arizona Coyotes without a starting goalie, so likely the preseason will be about figuring out which of their remaining goalies are good enough to be their starting goalie for the season. It will be interesting to watch the match between the Dallas Stars, who currently have four goalies at their disposal to use, and watch them figure out who will be their starting goalie.

No matter what, this will be a fun game for the Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars, and the people of El Paso! Tickets will be distributed by the El Paso Local Organizing Committee. Please visit the El Paso Rhinos Facebook page for more details. For more information, visit Kraft Hockeyville USA 2020 Facebook (KraftHockeyvilleUSA), Twitter (@HockeyvilleUSA), and Instagram (KraftHockeyvilleUSA). Fans can join the conversation using #HockeyvilleUSA.