Bees End Rollercoaster Ride With 3-2 OT Win Over Bats

Published on January 25, 2004 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees News Release


The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees recorded their first ever home-ice overtime victory Saturday night with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win against the Austin Ice Bats in a Southeast Division battle for second place in front of a season high standing room only crowd of 5,599 at Dodge Arena.

The Bees were offered four power play opportunities in the opening period, and took advantage of their second opportunity to take a 1-0 lead 12:06 into the period. Former Ice Bat and current Killer Bees captain Mike Rees scored the power play goal against his former mates with a blast from the point that deflected off several Ice Bats and snuck past Bats goaltender Jonathan Forest. The goal snapped Forest's series shutout sequence at 92:02, which is the longest by a Bees opposing goaltender.

Rio Grande Valley was given another power play opportunity early in the second period, and it turned out being another opportunity the Bees would take advantage of. 2:41 into the period, the Killer Bees fired a shot from the point that was knocked down by Bees forward Ryan Shmyr before it got to Forest. Bees all-star forward Bill Newson took the puck from Shmyr and quickly worked it over to Roger Holeczy in the right slot, who slammed it past Forest for his 6th of the season, giving the Bees a 2-0 lead. The Bees would take that lead into the second intermission thanks to outstanding goaltending by Jeff Levy, who made a Bees individual period high 19 saves off 19 Austin shots in the period.

Austin finally got on the board 2:37 into the third period with Josh St. Louis recording his 10th goal of the season in a battle in the left slot. Levy had lost his stick and was diving to the left slot to grab the puck, but St. Louis tipped it under him and the puck slid across the goal line to end a long streak for the Bats at the Dodge Arena. It was only the second goal the Bats had scored at the Dodge Arena and the first in 185:02. Levy provided the series shutout sequence on home ice against the Bats the entire period. The Bats only waited another 50-seconds until they scored their next goal, as Tab Lardner tied the contest up 3:23 into the period with a shot from the right side. Austin continued putting on pressure, firing away 17 shots on goal through the period. The Killer Bees did get a golden opportunity late in the game to gain a regulation win and prevent the Bats from gaining any standing points out the contest, but they let it slip away. With 4:47 remaining, the Bees sent the puck low into the offensive zone and Troy Linna was slashed hard by Bats forward Mike Olynyk, resulting in a five minute major power play (Olynyk was also issued a game misconduct) advantage for the Killer Bees. The Bats shut down the Bees power play, which was looking for its third power play goal of the evening, and forced the game into overtime.

A scuffle broke-out at the end of regulation and once the linesmen separated the lines, the Bats came away with a 1:47-long power play that would begin 13-seconds into overtime. The Bats appeared to do everything right on the power play controlling most of the clock in the Bees end, but Levy and the Bees shorthanded staffers prevented the Bats from scoring. The Bats would go 0 for 5 in the contest on the power play and are now 0 for 14 in the three previous series contests and are just 2 for 36 in the season series.

The hometown heroics occurred with less than a minute remaining in the overtime frame, as Bill Newson shot the puck from the right side that hit the backside of the net and sent the overflow crowd into a frenzy. The crowd thought that the puck went in the net and even the goal horn went off. The goal judge never triggered the goal light, the official knew the puck never went in, and play continued. Several of the Bats had even thought the puck went in and were caught standing around as the horn continued to go off, but as the Bees continued playing the puck, Jason Tessier fired the puck from the right side that was deflected into the back of the net by Chris Peach. At that moment, everyone knew the game was over with the Bees gaining their first overtime win on home ice (in six attempts) and the Peach was mobbed by his teammates.

The win gives the Bees a three game overall winning streak and a franchise high three game home winning streak. Levy stopped a franchise high 44 shots off a franchise high allowance of 46 shots on goal to help improve the Bees record to 18-17-6. The Bees improve their record to 12-0-1 when leading after the second period of play and to 14-1-0 when scoring first with the win as well.

The Bees were the only Southeast Division team to pick up a victory on the evening and are now the hottest team in the league with their three game winning streak. Austin's record will settle to 17-17-6 and they fall two standing-points behind the second place Bees with a game-in-hand, which they will use up Sunday back in Austin against Fort Worth. If Austin wins, they tie the Bees with 40 standing points, but the Killer Bees would still remain in second place because of the tie breakers. The first determining factors is wins, but if both teams are tied in that category, the head-to-head records are used. The Bees lead the series with a 5-3-0 series record. That factor would keep the Bees in second place of the division. If Austin loses to Fort Worth, then the Bats will remain two points back behind the Bees.

Rio Grande Valley now hits the road for six games over a two week span before playing their next home game on Sunday, February 8th against the Corpus Christi Rayz. They will put their three game winning streak to the test at their first stop Tuesday night, as the Bees seek to end a three game road winless streak at Odessa.

DATE Sat, Jan 24, 2004 Austin (2) Rio Grande Valley (3)

SCORE BY PERIODS Austin 0 0 2 0 -- 2 Rio Grande Valley 1 1 0 1 -- 3

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: RGV-Rees (powerplay) (Newson, Tessier) 12:06. Penalties: Shmyr, RGV (Slashing, Minor, 2 min) 3:33. Stone, AUS (Slashing, Minor, 2 min) 8:29. Olynyk, AUS (Interference, Minor, 2 min) 11:06. Van Parys, RGV (Obstruction (Tripping), Minor, 2 min) 12:46. Brownlee, AUS (Obstruction (Tripping), Minor, 2 min) 15:02. Tallaire, AUS (Cross Checking, Minor, 2 min) 17:48.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: RGV-Holeczy (powerplay) (Newson, Shmyr) 2:41. Penalties: Legault, AUS (Board Checking, Minor, 2 min) 0:48. Gillam, RGV (Slashing, Minor, 2 min) 3:22. Kralj, RGV (Cross Checking, Minor, 2 min) 10:47. Smith, RGV (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 13:40. Olynyk, AUS (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 13:40.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: AUS-St Louis (Jabrocky) 2:37. AUS-Lardner (Smart, Hughes) 3:23. Penalties: Holeczy, RGV (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 7:31. Hughes, AUS (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 7:31. Van Parys, RGV (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 15:14. Olynyk, AUS (Slashing, Major, 5 min) 15:14. Olynyk, AUS (Slashing, Game Misconduct, 10 min) 15:14. Olynyk, AUS (Fisticuffs, Major, 5 min) 15:14. Mackie, RGV (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 20:00.

OVERTIME -- Scoring: RGV-Peach (Tessier) 4:01.

SHOTS ON GOAL Austin 6 19 17 4 -- 46 Rio Grande Valley 12 9 8 3 -- 31

POWER PLAY STATS PPG ADV SHG Austin 0 5 0 Rio Grande Valley 2 6 0

GOALIES AWAY TEAM D MIN S SV Jonathan Forest OTL 64:01 32 29 HOME TEAM D MIN S SV Jeff Levy WIN 64:01 46 44

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2004


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