All-Star Week for Ice Bats

Published on January 11, 2005 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 14-14-2 on the 2004-05 CHL season, and are in a close third place in the league's Southeast Division. The Ice Bats trail Corpus Christi by five points, and Laredo by just three points heading into the All-Star break.

After Wednesday's Dodge CHL All-Star Game in Laredo, the Ice Bats resume play Friday night at home against San Angelo. The Bats will then host Rio Grande Valley Saturday, the start of a home-and-home series against the Killer Bees.

A look back: The Ice Bats split a two-game series with Fort Worth last week, each team winning on home ice. Friday night, Fort Worth's Nick Udovicic scored third period goals 43 seconds apart to key a 4-2 Brahmas win.

Austin goalie Matt Barnes carried the mail in a scoreless first period, stopping all 15 shots faced, while the Ice Bats generated just three shots on Fort Worth goalie Dan Murphy. The Brahmas then took the first lead on an Austin turnover 4:49 into the second, resulting in Chad Woollard's shot from the high slot past a screened Barnes.

The Ice Bats, with just one power play goal in 30 chances over their previous six games, tied the score on the man-advantage. John McNabb took Jared Dumba's cross-ice pass, and fired home a one-timer with 2:39 left in the period.

The Brahmas retook the lead amid controversy 2:27 into the third period, on a goal that Brahmas forward Jan Jas appeared to kick into the net off his shin pads. But the Ice Bats didn't sulk, getting their second power play goal three minutes later on newcomer Jeff Alcombrack's shot from the point.

Midway through the third period, however, Udovicic took control of the game. A puck backhanded down the slot jumped off the glove of Ice Bats defenseman Mike Mohr and onto the stick of Udovicic, who slid the puck past Barnes at 7:50. Udovicic then scored a delayed penalty goal at 8:33 to open up the close game. A two-for-five night on the power play was small consolation to the Ice Bats, who lost their fourth straight game in the season series.

Saturday night, the Ice Bats got revenge with a 3-2 win over the Brahmas at the Bat Cave. There was plenty of carryover emotion from the night before, resulting in often chippy play between the teams. The Ice Bats' penalty kill, exemplary all season, not only killed an elbowing major penalty against Mike Olynyk midway through the first period, but even got a shorthanded breakaway goal from Chris Richards to open scoring.

The Ice Bats built a 2-0 lead on Gerald Tallaire's first goal since rejoining the team. Pinpoint passes from Richards and John McNabb sprung Tallaire for the breakaway score midway through the second. The Brahmas cut the lead in half on a Jan Jas wraparound with two minutes left in the second, then tied the score on a Joey Bastien goal, the result of a defensive miscommunication early in the third.

Austin's Jared Dumba scored the eventual winner on a power play at 11:12 of the final period. And three seconds after the ensuing face-off, Bats enforcer Dallas Anderson added the exclamation point, annihilating Fort Worth's Brian Bansner in a fight. Bats goalie Peter-Emmanuel Brady finished with 33 saves on 35 shots. The Ice Bats finished one-for-six on the power play, killed all seven Brahmas advantages, and scored a shorthanded goal. Not a bad night of entertainment for 6,923 Bat Cave fans, who also had the opportunity to see the Stanley Cup, and a post-game performance from Del Castillo.

But Sunday, the Ice Bats were denied an opportunity to test themselves even-strength against a good Colorado team. Buoyed by 13 power play chances in the first two periods, the Eagles downed the Bats, 4-2.

Despite five Colorado power play chances, the Ice Bats held the Eagles to just eight shots in a scoreless first period. Colorado opened scoring with their only even-strength goal of the day, a Karlis Zirnis shot to the shelf five minutes into the second.

Then the penalty parade began, referee Tom Sterns putting the Eagles on the man-advantage eight times in the second period. Austin's Kelly Smart tied the game shorthanded, picking off a pass at the blue line, and zipping the puck into the upper right hand corner of the net at 5:55. But just 54 seconds later, Colorado's Riley Nelson retook the lead with a power play goal.

After a dubious hooking call on Smart, Sterns assessed unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Bats defenseman Mike Mohr and Coach Greg Gatto. The Eagles' Ryan Tobler then scored on the third of Colorado's four total two-skater advantages in the game.

To their credit, the Ice Bats kept the game close, getting within one on a power play of their own. Defenseman Jeff Alcombrack faked a slap shot, then delivered a back door pass to Smart for the late second period score. But Colorado wrapped up scoring with a power play goal a minute into the third, and the Bats were too gassed to overcome the two-goal deficit.

Roster Flights: Arrivals: Last Thursday, the Bats obtained defenseman Jeff Alcombrack and forward Tom Kotsopoulos from Odessa, in exchange for forward Benoit Genesse and future considerations. Both acquired players are in their third professional seasons. Alcombrack had 14 points in 25 games with the Jackalopes this year, while Kotsopoulos scored 5 goals and 5 assists in 18 games prior to the trade. Alcombrack had an immediate impact, scoring three points in his first three games with the Bats.

Wounded Wings: Ice Bats defenseman Jonathan Jolette sat out all three games last week to injury. He's listed as questionable for this week.

Player Plaudits: Ice Bats winger John McNabb ranks in the top 20 in league scoring, with 16 goals and 20 assists. Next on the team is center Chris Richards, with 9 goals and 24 assists. Kris Knoblauch is among the top 15 rookies, with 9 goals and 7 assists. Forward Dallas Anderson ranks fourth in the CHL with 162 penalty minutes. And goalie Matt Barnes ranks in the top ten at 12-8-1 with a 2.60 GAA and .921 save percentage.

All-Star: Ice Bats forward John McNabb will represent the Southern Conference in the Dodge CHL All-Star Game, to be played Wednesday in Laredo. McNabb will also take part in Tuesday's CHL Skills Competition, in the "Rapid Fire," "Pass and Score" and "Breakaway Relay" events, in addition to the "Fastest Skater" competition.

Potential Bite Victims: With Amarillo's resurgence, San Angelo is now tied with the Gorillas for second in the Southwest, two points behind Lubbock. The 16-13-2 Saints have lost three straight games into the All-Star break. Always disciplined and well coached, the Saints have been hurt by injuries and scattered defections. With top scorer Trevor Weisgerber (10 goals, 10 assists in 19 games) on the shelf to injury, forwards Bret DeCecco (12 goals, 13 assists) and Kevin Vandewaeter (12 goals, 11 assists) have taken over the scoring lead. Goalie Scott Reid starts the All-Star Game, and that's because no team depends more on their goalie than San Angelo does Reid. 16-12-1 with a 2.99 GAA, he leads the league in minutes and ranks second in total saves. 4-10-1 as a road team, the Saints have lost four straight away from home.

Rio Grande Valley Coach Tracy Egeland was hoping to depend on a formula of stingy defense to make a second straight playoff run. But the Killer Bees are 11-18-2, and desperately needing firepower. The Bees rank last on offense (2.39 goals per game), 16th defensively (3.68 average goals allowed) and last on the penalty kill (73.2%). Speedy Bill Newson leads the team with 11 goals and 17 assists, with forwards Joe Guenther and Matic Kralj chipping in 21 and 20 points, respectively. Defenseman Jason Tessier (17 points) will represent Rio Grande Valley at the All-Star Game. After a fine year last year, goalie Jeff Levy is 10-14 with a 3.32 GAA this year. 8-6-1 at home, the Killer Bees are just 3-12-1 on the road, and have dropped five straight road games. They'll host Colorado Friday out of the All-Star break, before their two games against Austin.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 20-11-3 lifetime against San Angelo, and have played the Saints well this year. The Bats took a tough 4-3 shootout loss November 20th at San Angelo, then beat the Saints 4-3 in Austin December 11th.

The Bats are 5-8-1 in two seasons of play against Rio Grande Valley, as they get set to face the Killer Bees for the first time since October. The Bats blasted the Bees 5-2 October 23rd at the Cave, but the Bees turned the tables for a 5-1 win October 30th there. The Ice Bats are 0-6-1 in seven trips to the Dodge Arena.

Comments From the Coach: On Last Week: "It was another week we could've been 3-0. I felt like we gave the game away on Friday, but played a good game Saturday. And then we really didn't have a chance on Sunday. The game wasn't in our hands to win or lose, when you have 13 power plays against, especially four ‘five-on-threes.' We took one of the best teams in the league to the wire. We hit a post, had a goal disallowed, and 13 power plays against. I think we proved we could play them five-on-five without a problem and probably beat them."

On This Week: "We have to find a way to win games and start catching up on some teams, not only in our division, but the other teams in the conference. Every game becomes more and more important. San Angelo is a good defensive team, well coached with great goaltending. Reid is the difference every night. I haven't seen Rio Grande Valley since I took over, but they're playing much better. They beat Laredo and should've beaten Corpus Christi. We certainly can't take them lightly."

Cave, Sweet Cave: Friday night, the Lanier High School Band will perform, part of the Austin Community College "Marching Band Series." Saturday, free souvenir pucks go to 3,000 fans, courtesy of the Texas Dodge Dealers.

Individual game tickets are available now through the Ice Bats office at 927-PUCK, on-line at www.GetTix.Net, or at any of a dozen Pinky's Wireless locations in the Austin area, including Round Rock, Cedar Park, Killeen and San Marcos. Tickets are also available at all Texas Box Office locations, including all Austin-area HEB stores, or on-line at www.TexasBoxOffice.com.

To charge by phone, fans may call the Ice Bats ticket office at 927-PUCK, Get Tix at 1-866-4-Get Tix, or Texas Box Office at (512) 477-6060.

Individual game tickets range in price from $10 to $35, depending on section, with discounted rates for groups of 15 or more. Fans may call the Ice Bats ticket office at (512) 927-PUCK, or log onto the team's website at www.icebats.com for more information.

In the Air: Once again, all Ice Bats away games will be broadcast on ESPN Radio, 1530 on the AM dial. The station will broadcast all road games during the 2004-05 regular season and CHL Playoffs. The games will also be available on-line, through the station website at www.espnaustin.com. The Texas Dodge Dealers Warm-up Show begins 20 minutes prior to game time. Ice Bats Director of Broadcasting, Media/PR Glen Norman will handle play-by-play duties for a seventh straight season.

Tuesday night's All-Star Skills Competition will be broadcast live over the internet free of charge, at www.CHLTV.com. The Dodge CHL All-Star Game Wednesday night will also be available on-line through CHL TV, then will be re-broadcast Friday night at 7pm on Fox Sports Net Southwest. Norman will handle color commentary for that broadcast, which can be seen in all of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and parts of New Mexico.

Bats in Cyberspace: Bats fans can learn the latest about their team by logging on to www.icebats.com. Home or away, Bats fans can also follow the action with real-time scoring on the website, courtesy of Pointstreak.com. Fans will be able to access a game box score in real-time, as well as those of all other CHL games being played.

THIS WEEK:

Wed., Jan. 12th, 7:30pm, Dodge CHL All-Star Game, at Laredo Entertainment Center, Laredo, Texas

Fri., Jan. 14th, 7:35pm, vs. San Angelo Saints, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas

Sat., Jan. 15th, 7:35pm, vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas

Sun., Jan. 16th, 6:05pm, vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, at Dodge Arena, Hidalgo, Texas

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 11, 2005


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