Ice Bats Hit the Road

Published on March 1, 2004 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League, 23-28-6 on the 2003-04 season, trail Rio Grande Valley by 14 points in the Southeast Division, and in the race for the final Southern Conference playoff position. With seven games to be played in the CHL regular season, the Killer Bees need just one point to eliminate the Ice Bats from the playoff chase. In the meat of an eight-game season-ending road trip, the Ice Bats will visit Northern Conference foes Oklahoma City, Memphis and Tulsa, before finishing the week Saturday night in San Angelo.

A look back: The Ice Bats are making sure Rio Grande Valley has to win their way into a playoff spot. The Bats won two of their three games last week.

Friday night, the Ice Bats were shut out at home by San Angelo, 3-0. The Saints scored two goals in the first period. San Angelo's Jason Silverthorn jabbed in the first score 2:11 into the contest, and Ryan Finnerty added a breakaway goal midway through the period.

About nine minutes into the second, the Ice Bats had their best scoring chance waved off. Austin's Tab Lardner swept down the right wing with a defender on his back and slammed the puck on goal. Saints goalie Scott Reid made the initial stop, then was driven into the net by his back-checking teammate. But the would-be shorthanded goal was disallowed.

A few minutes after that, San Angelo's Kevin Vandewater scored a power play goal. The Ice Bats outshot the Saints 31-15 over the final two periods, but Reid was stout in net, stopping all 40 shots faced for the game. Finnerty led scoring with two points.

Saturday night, the Ice Bats rebounded with a 3-1 home win over Corpus Christi, played before the largest crowd in franchise history.

The Bats wasted no time getting on the board, Kelly Smart's rebound goal coming just 16 seconds into the game. Corpus Christi tied the score on a Jim Leger goal at the four-minute mark.

Midway through the second, Corpus goalie Craig Hillier stopped Chris Legg's breakaway attempt. But the Ice Bats broke through with 3:12 left in the period, Brandon Carper receiving a Tab Lardner centering pass in the slot, and slamming the puck into the upper left corner of the net. The Bats outshot the Rayz 18-5 in the period.

Lardner added a key insurance goal 7:23 into the third. The Rayz then hurt their comeback chances with penalties, putting the Ice Bats on the power play over the final five minutes. Lardner and Brent Hughes had two points each to lead the Austin attack. Bats goalie Brent Belecki stopped 24 of 25 shots faced, as the Ice Bats pumped 50 shots on Hillier.

Nearly all of the franchise-record 8,316 fans stayed after the game to hear the final installment of the "Crown Royal Concert Series," with live music from Los Lonely Boys.

Coming off their emotional high from Saturday, the Ice Bats suffered a bit of a hangover Sunday in Fort Worth. But, led by goalie Jonathan Forest, they came from behind for a 2-1 shootout win.

Brahmas pest T.J. Warkus scored the game's first goal from the right circle 56 seconds in, as Fort Worth controlled the first ten minutes. The Ice Bats got it going midway through the period, and nearly tied the game on a late power play. A dump-in took a strange hop out of the corner, but the puck jumped over Kelly Smart's stick as he tried to throw it into an empty net.

Fort Worth took command again during the second period and much of the third, but Forest made tremendous saves on point-blank opportunities. Finally, Smart tipped in Tab Lardner's centering pass for the game-tying shorthanded goal with 6:12 left in the third.

The Ice Bats gained an overtime power play on Scott English's needless roughing penalty, but failed to score. Then in the shootout, both teams scored in Round One, but Forest locked the Brahmas down after that, and Austin's Josh St. Louis scored the winner in Round Four. Forest finished with 34 saves on 35 Fort Worth shots.

Thanks, Austin Fans: Saturday night's crowd of 8,316 at the Travis County Expo Center is a new single-game franchise record-- easily smashing the previous attendance mark of 7,921 fans, set on November 15th of 1997.

Lines On The Highway: The Ice Bats will travel over 3,300 miles in completing their season-ending eight-game road trip. The team will log nearly 2,000 bus miles getting to and from their four games this week.

Player Plaudits: Center Chris Richards ranks in the top 20 in league scoring, with 20 goals and 41 assists. Forward Gerald Tallaire is second on the team, with 12 goals and 34 assists. Brent Hughes ranks among the top five CHL rookies with a team-most 21 goals, to go along with 18 assists. And Jonathan Forest ranks among the top 15 league goalies, at 17-15-5, with a 2.68 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.

Approaching Milestone: Ice Bats center Brett Seguin needs just six points to reach 1,000 for his professional career. Earlier this season, Seguin entered among the top 50 career scorers in the history of minor pro hockey.

Potential Bite Victims: In their first season after the retirement of standout Joe Burton, perennial playoff team Oklahoma City could wind up a casualty of Northern Conference depth. Despite a 26-23-7 record, the Blazers are eight points out of the final playoff position in the Conference. That, despite a top five showing on both the power play (16.7%) and penalty kill (86%). Center Marty Standish leads the team in scoring with 18 goals and 33 assists, while forward Doug Sheppard has 24 goals and 24 assists. Center Blair Manning has added 42 points, and forwards Ryan Watson and Bryan Forslund have 21 goals each. Having an off year by his lofty standards, veteran Hardy Sauter still ranks 8th among defensemen with 38 points. Goaltending has been spread between Boyd Ballard (16-13-2, 2.88 GAA) and Sean Connors (10-10-5, 2.77 GAA). Oklahoma City is 14-11-4 at home. Should the Blazers actually miss the playoffs, their fans might not know what to do. Oklahoma City has never missed the post-season in eight years with Doug Sauter on the bench, and their string of seven straight division titles will be snapped this year.

At 32-22-3, defending champion Memphis is in a battle for the final playoff spot, tied with Indianapolis, one point ahead of Wichita. Of course, the RiverKings barely made the post-season last year, and we all know what happened. Former goaltender Mark Richards replaced veteran coach Jim Wiley just before Christmas, but the ‘Kings still have two-time MVP Don Parsons. Parsons ranks 9th in the league with 33 goals and 36 assists. Another holdover, Jay Neal has 20 goals and 39 helpers. But unusually, Memphis ranks in the bottom five on both the power play (15.1%) and penalty kill (81.1%). Perhaps the biggest hindrance for Memphis has been the revolving door at goaltender, created by injuries and call-ups. Mike Minard (8-10-2, 2.97 GAA) is gone to the AHL again, so that leaves Jean-Francois Racine (12-7-1, 2.56 GAA), perhaps for the rest of the regular season. 16-8-3 at home, the RiverKings are at Bossier-Shreveport Tuesday, then host Austin Thursday.

Twelve points out of a playoff spot, Tulsa will have to get hot and get some help. The Oilers, 22-23-11, have won two in a row, but will have to jump over several teams. Forwards Jason Bermingham (31 goals, 33 assists, 13 power play goals) and Todd Marcellus (25 goals, 39 assists) rank among the top 15 scorers in the league. Dan Gravelle has 30 goals and 30 assists. Veteran goalie Rod Branch is 16-14-7, with a 3.01 GAA. The Oilers have been slick at home, winning four straight to push their home mark to 16-7-5. They'll start this week with a sweep through New Mexico and Colorado, then have a day to get back before hosting the Bats Friday night.

At 33-16-8, San Angelo has built a 3-point lead in the Southwest and clinched a playoff spot. Coach Ray Edwards has held his team together despite a spate of injuries, and Edwards himself has missed the last few games while undergoing medical tests. But the Saints, among the league's top five defensive teams (2.64 average goals allowed) are riding the back of goalie Scott Reid. The reigning Goalie of the Week for the third time this season, Reid is 28-8-4, with a 2.36 GAA. He leads the league in total saves, and with a .936 save percentage. Chris Minard is still among the top 15 scorers, with 32 goals and 32 assists. Trevor Weisgerber and Ryan Finnerty each have 21 goals and 32 helpers, and rookie Tyler Knight (12 goals, 22 assists) now has a 10-game point streak. 18-6-3 at home, San Angelo has won five straight home games. They finish a Southeast Division trip at Corpus Christi Wednesday, then host Indy and Austin.

The Series: The Ice Bats have still never lost to Oklahoma City in three years of CHL play. 7-0 lifetime in the series, the Ice Bats won a pair of home games over the Blazers this year, 4-2 on October 25th and 6-4 on December 27th.

The Bats are 4-2 lifetime against Memphis in regular season play, heading into the only scheduled meeting this year. The RiverKings have defeated the Bats in five games in the President's Cup Finals in each of the past two seasons.

Austin is 1-2-1 lifetime against Tulsa, and will be looking for revenge after losing the only previous meeting this year. The Oilers power play ran wild for four goals in a 5-3 win February 8th at the Bat Cave.

The Ice Bats are 18-11-2 lifetime against San Angelo, but have dropped all three meetings this year. That includes a narrow 2-1 loss in the only game played in San Angelo, on Valentine's Day.

Comments from the Coach:

On last week: "I was really pleased with the effort, especially on Saturday. Any time you can throw 50 shots on net, it means something. It means you're playing hard and playing well. I was happy for our fans and our organization. It was a great crowd. I've never seen anything like that in the six years I've been here. And to come out with a victory in our final regular season home game was big for us."

On this week: "Our guys have kept playing hard and kept believing in their minds that we have a chance to get into the playoffs. And guys are auditioning for jobs for next year. A lot of guys have stepped it up and started playing well. It shows me there are some guys who want to win, and will keep on going and keep playing hard. We'll see what happens."

In the Air: For the second straight season, all Ice Bats away games are broadcast on ESPN Radio, now 1260 and 1530 on the AM dial. The stations will broadcast all road games during the 2003-04 regular season and CHL Playoffs. All road games are also available live on-line, through www.SportsJuice.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 sixth straight season.

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 newly re-designed by BeyondBeyond Design and constructed by webmaster Nathan Jones. Currently on the site, fans can vote for their favorite Ice Bats in the "Texas Dodge Dealers Post-season Awards," which will be presented to the players at a post-season ceremony.

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:
Tues., Mar. 2nd, 7:05pm, vs. Oklahoma City Blazers, at Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Thur., Mar. 4th, 7:05pm, vs. Memphis RiverKings, at DeSoto Civic Center, Southaven, Mississippi
Fri., Mar. 5th, 7:35pm, vs. Tulsa Oilers, at Tulsa Convention Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Sat., Mar. 6th, 7:05pm, vs. San Angelo Saints, at San Angelo Coliseum, San Angelo, Texas

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Central Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2004


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