Bats 7-0, Best in Team History

Published on November 5, 2002 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League have started the 2002-03 CHL regular season with seven straight wins, in defense of their Southeast Division and Southern Conference titles. The team's 7-0 start is the best opening streak in franchise history. The Bats begin weekend play with a two-point lead over San Angelo in the Division race. This week, the Bats face Northern Conference foes, at Fort Worth on Friday, and hosting Oklahoma City on Saturday.

With a 44-15-5 regular season record last year, the Ice Bats defeated San Antonio and El Paso en route to the team's first-ever appearance in the President's Cup Finals. There, the Ice Bats fell just one step short of the CHL's ultimate prize, falling to the Memphis RiverKings in five games.

A look back: The Ice Bats proved last week they can win any style of game the opponent wishes to play—outscoring Wichita in a 7-5 donnybrook, and edging Corpus Christi in a defensive showdown, 2-1. The Bats wrapped up the week with a 4-1 home win over Indianapolis.

On Friday night, the Ice Bats and Wichita Thunder put on a potent offensive show at the Bat Cave, although the defensive effort rivaled an All-Star Game. Austin's Dan Price started the scoring eight minutes in, on an impressive wraparound goal from low in the left circle. Wichita's Jeff Petruic tied the game, but the Bats led 3-1 on first period goals by Tab Lardner and Pat Brownlee. The Bats built the lead to 5-2 on second period goals from Price and Kelly Smart. But Tom Gomes' power play goal with 31 seconds left in the second trimmed the lead to two. For the Bats, it was the first power play goal allowed in 35 opposing chances.

Twice in the third, the Thunder cut the lead to a single goal, but the Bats always had the answer, with scores from Mike Gaffney and Shawn Legault. Brett Seguin had three assists to Price's two goals, while Gomes led Wichita with two goals and an assist. Rookie goalie Peter Brady got the win for the Bats, while Stephen Wagner took the loss for Wichita in relief of starter Patrik Lovisek. Maybe the goalies were rattled by the constant din of 5,000 fans banging free plastic mini-hockey sticks in the stands.

A look back, continued: Last Saturday night, the Bats returned to their defensive form for a 2-1 win at Corpus Christi. Bats goalie Matt Barnes stopped 32 of 33 shots faced, outdueling the IceRays' Brent Belecki, who stopped 30 of 32.

For the sixth straight game, the Bats scored first, Brett Seguin throwing the puck in on a 2-on-2 rush at 11:35 of the first. It was Austin's only goal, despite outshooting the ‘Rays 15-3 in the period. Corpus Christi tied the score on John Sicinski's power play goal in the second period.

The Bats scored the game-winner with about seven minutes remaining on a Mike Gaffney pass to Dan Price. Gaffney got around the defense coming down the right wing, lost the puck behind the net, regained possession and threw the puck out front for Price's goal.

Austin's Pat Brownlee was whistled for interference with about four minutes left, giving the IceRays a final chance, and forcing Barnes to make several key saves. The ‘Rays also forced the issue with an extra skater over the final minute, but Barnes and the defense turned them away. The Bats held the IceRays to one power play goal on eight chances, while the Bats were scoreless on just three man-advantage chances.

On Sunday, two tired hockey clubs played their third game in three days at the Bat Cave, but the Bats showed more emotion, in a 4-1 win over Indianapolis. As in every other game this season, the Bats struck first, on Dan Price's power play goal seven minutes in. Just 46 seconds later, Austin's Tab Lardner scored to make it 2-0 after one period.

Late in the second, the Bats rang iron on a flurry of shots on the power play. Then three seconds after the power play concluded, defenseman Darryl McArthur jumped on a loose puck on the left wing, and ripped it under the crossbar. Kelly Smart added a power play goal late in the third to cement the result. Indianapolis' Etienne Morin scored a meaningless power play goal with 2:52 left for the Ice's only goal. Bats goalie Matt Barnes stopped 26 of 27 shots faced, while Smart and McArthur had two points each. The Bats scored twice on just five power play chances.

Roster Flights: Departures: Last Saturday, forward Ian Larocque announced his retirement for personal reasons. Forward Jaroslav Kresac, released last Wednesday, was re-signed to take Larocque's place on the roster.

Special Delivery: The Bats power play is warming up. With four goals on 15 chances in their three games last week, the Bats have improved to 9th in the league, at 13.2% for the season. Meanwhile the Bats continue to boast the CHL's top penalty kill, allowing just two power play goals on 51 chances (96.1%).

Player Plaudits: On Monday, Bats goalie Matt Barnes was named CHL Goalie of the Week for the second time this season. With two more wins last week, Barnes ran his record to 6-0, and his 1.16 goals-against-average leads all goalies with more than a single appearance.

Center Kelly Smart ranks 11th in league scoring, with six goals and five assists. Dan Price is second in the league in goals with seven, and second in team scoring with nine points. Forward Tab Lardner ranks second in the league at +9. And forward Shawn Legault leads the team with 47 penalty minutes, but is also +6 with five points.

Potential Bite Victims: Fort Worth is 3-4 on the young season, three points behind the leaders in the Northeast. The Brahmas have been balanced in scoring, with Chad Woollard and Joe Van Volsen leading the charge. Both have 4 goals and 5 assists, with all Woollard's goals coming on the power play. Proven scorer Kyle Reeves has added 8 points. Coach Todd Lalonde hasn't been able to settle on a full-time goalie, although Jason Fricker, obtained from Oklahoma City, may prove to fit the bill. Fricker is 0-1 in two appearances with the Brahmas, with a 2.69 GAA. Defense has been the soft spot, as the Brahmas have surrendered 4.14 goals per game, 15th in the league. And they need to get off to better starts—they've been outscored 14-5 in the first period this year. The Brahmas got their home season started last week, and are 1-1 at home after a 4-2 loss to Wichita on Sunday.

Tulsa has stolen much of the early limelight, leaving Oklahoma City at 3-3-1, 3rd in the Northwest. But the Blazers are too good not to figure in the division race in the end. Defenseman Hardy Sauter actually leads the team in scoring with 9 points. Former San Antonio Iguana Blair Manning has added 8 points, and veteran Joe Burton 7 in his final season. The Blazers could sure stand for center Marty Standish to get going—an All-Star last year, Standish has just two points in seven games so far this year. Boyd Ballard appears to be Okie City's best answer in net, with a 2-2 record and 2.25 GAA. 1-1-1 on the road, the Blazers host Lubbock Friday, before coming to Austin.

The Series: The Bats are 33-15-1 lifetime against Fort Worth, after winning eight of the nine meetings last season.

The Bats are 3-0 against Oklahoma City, with all three games played in Oklahoma. In their first visit ever to the Bat Cave on Saturday, the Blazers will try to turn the tables on a Bats team that defeated them 1-0 October 18th, in the first game at the new Ford Center.

Comments From The Coach:

On last week: "All in all, it was a good week. Friday was the most disappointing game because of the way we played defense. We started out okay, but we got into what I call a ‘pond hockey' game... just back and forth without regard to defense or finishing checks. But we got our two points, and that's most important. It's early in the year, and hopefully our guys learned from it. Peter Brady would've liked to have done better, but I'm sure he learned from some small mistakes too.

"From that, we went to one of our best games on Saturday. It was a hard-earned win. Corpus has a much improved team, and a pretty good skating team. It was a close game. Sunday, we tested ourselves again with our third game on the weekend, but I thought it was a stellar effort. Our defense was excellent and Barnes shut the door. We also scored a couple of power play goals, which was nice.

On this week: "We haven't thought that much about the streak we've been on. The team has been really good about taking it one game at a time. Right away, we've shown we're the team to beat, and we've gotten some early recognition for our achievements. But right now, a lot of our guys are still upset we didn't come home with the hardware last year. We know we'll lose some games, but so far we've been fortunate, and deserved to win in most cases, I think.

Cave, Sweet Cave: After winning the WPHL attendance title four times in five seasons, the Bats placed second in the CHL last season, averaging nearly 5,000 fans per home game. Saturday night is Scout Night, and also Puck Night, with souvenir pucks going to 3,000 fans, courtesy of Henna Chevrolet. After the game, a post-game party takes place at Lavaca Street Bar, 405 Lavaca, downtown.

For the first time in franchise history, the Ice Bats will play all 32 home games on weekend dates—Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons. For this season, improvements at the Travis County Expo Center include all-new glass surrounding the rink, safety netting in end zones and corners, and climate control for the first time ever. In addition, the team has unveiled its "Kids Zone," an all-new interactive fun center for kids.

Season tickets and corporate partnerships for the 2002-03 Ice Bats season are on sale at the Ice Bats office. Season tickets are available in full season, 16-game and 10-game plans. Free Belfry Club membership is included with all full season packages, and free parking with all full season and 16-game plans.

Individual game tickets are also available through the Ice Bats office or through all Star Ticket outlets, including all Austin-area Albertson's locations. Ticket prices remain the same as last season, and range from $11 to $21, depending on section, with discounted rates for groups of 15 people or more. To charge by phone, fans may call the Ice Bats office at 927-PUCK, or Star Tickets at 469-SHOW. On-line ordering is available through www.startickets.com.

Helping Out: Ice Bats players will be helping in the fight against breast cancer, as celebrity servers at Chili's 4th Annual Dine Out Night. The event will take place from 5 to 9pm this Wednesday, November 6th, at the Chili's restaurant at I-35 and Highway 183. All proceeds from tips will benefit the Austin affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Cool Cash: Ice Bats fans can get their hands on a grand, with State Farm Bank's "Shot of a Lifetime" promotion. Fans who stop by their participating Austin-area State Farm agent can register to be on the ice at an Ice Bats game, with a chance to skate away with $1000 or other Ice Bats prizes. The contest will take place once a month, beginning at the game on Friday, Nov. 15th at the Expo Center.

In the Air: All Ice Bats road games will be broadcast on News Talk 1260, KWNX-AM, presented by State Farm Bank. The Texas Dodge Dealers Warm-up Show begins 20 minutes prior to opening face-off. The broadcasts are also available on the worldwide web, through the Ice Bats website. Ice Bats Director of Broadcasting, Media/PR Glen Norman is in his fifth busy season providing all the play-by-play action.

Bats in Cyberspace: Bats fans can learn the latest about their team by logging on to www.icebats.com. The official website of the Bats was designed and built by Syndetic Design.

Home or away, Bats fans will be able to 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.

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Central Hockey League Stories from November 5, 2002


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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