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Ice Bats Pop Cork on 2005

January 5, 2005 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 13-12-2 on the 2004-05 CHL season, and are in a close third place in the league's Southeast Division. The Ice Bats trail division co-leaders Laredo and Corpus Christi by just five points.

In their first full week of the New Year, the Ice Bats will play a home-and-home series against Fort Worth, hosting the Brahmas Saturday at the Travis County Expo Center. Then the Bats will get their first look ever at the Colorado Eagles on Sunday.

A look back: The Ice Bats wrapped up the calendar year with victories against two of the top teams in the CHL. Last Tuesday night, the Bats staged a stirring comeback in a 4-3 home win over Bossier-Shreveport.

The Mudbugs wasted no time building a 3-1 lead, outshooting the Bats 12-6 in the first period and opening scoring on a Chris Brassard slap shot 64 seconds in. John McNabb tied the score on a delayed penalty goal at 6:33, but 1:15 later, Bossier's Dan Wildfong scored and the Mudbugs' Scott Sheppard added a goal late in the period.

The Bats stormed back in the second period with goals 1:30 apart. Defenseman Mike Mohr centered to Jeff Neufeld coming down the slot for a goal, and Jared Dumba tied the game with a power play score.

At 2:30 of the third, Mudbugs agitator Wildfong dropped his gloves to take on Bats winger Kris Knoblauch, then immediately began looking for an escape hatch as Knoblauch pounded away. 4-1/2 minutes later, a Kelly Smart pass up the center led to a Chris Richards breakaway goal and the first Austin lead of the game. The Bats then held off the Mudbugs at the end, much to the delight of 4,762 Bat Cave fans. Richards led scoring with 1 goal and 2 assists, while Mohr added three assists.

New Year's Eve, the Ice Bats spoiled Corpus Christi's celebration, winning 4-1 at the AmericanBank Center. The Bats got a hat trick from winger John McNabb, and a 30-save performance from goaltender Peter-Emmanuel Brady.

The Bats resolved their penchant for slow starts on the road, opening scoring at 12:26 of the first period on a Corpus turnover at the Austin blue line. Ice Bats defenseman Ryan Leasa sprung McNabb for a shorthanded breakaway goal.

The teams then traded goals off deflections in the second period. Kelly Smart banked the puck off Corpus defenseman Dominic Periard at 8:06. Corpus Christi forward Dave Gilmore deflected the puck in off the skate of Bats defenseman Brian Pasko with 24 seconds left in the period.

The Ice Bats got a key insurance goal 4:43 into the third period. Running a perfect three-on-two rush, winger Jared Dumba centered back to McNabb for the score. McNabb then wrapped up the hat trick with another shorthanded goal, this time on an empty net, with 41 seconds remaining.

Meanwhile, Brady, making his first appearance since December 3rd, merrily made saves to earn his first victory of the season. It was Austin's third road win of the year, and their first ever at the AmericanBank Center.

The Ice Bats concluded last week with a New Year's Day hangover game, blanked 2-0 at home by Laredo. Bucks All-Star Brent Cullaton scored 30 seconds into the first period, and Laredo spent the rest of the game stymieing the Austin attack-- blocking passing lanes and outhustling the Ice Bats on defense.

Ice Bats enforcer Dallas Anderson tried to get his team going with a solid fight against Laredo's Steve Makway just two seconds into the second period. But Austin goalie Matt Barnes turned in the most impressive plays of the game. Barnes' sliding blocker save denied an Adam Paiement breakaway chance seven minutes into a scoreless second period. And his breakaway save on a James Hiebert attempt four minutes into the third kept it a 1-0 game late into regulation.

Cullaton's empty net goal with five seconds remaining was the only other score in the game, as the Ice Bats mustered just 19 shots on Laredo netminder David Guerrera. Barnes stopped 28 of 29 shots faced in the loss.

Roster Flights: Arrivals: On Monday, the Ice Bats announced the team has re-signed forward Gerald Tallaire. The final cut of this year's training camp, Tallaire fell victim to the league rule that limits teams to four veterans with 260 or more games of pro experience. He then signed briefly with Fort Worth, but did not play due to injury. The veteran forward, who has appeared in every game with the Ice Bats in each of the last three seasons, scored 15 goals and 36 assists last year.

Power Outage: Playing without defenseman Arturs Kupaks, the Ice Bats have scored just once in 30 power play chances over their last six games. Kupaks was granted emergency leave for personal reasons as of December 14th.

Player Plaudits: Ice Bats winger John McNabb ranks in the top 20 in league scoring, with 15 goals and 18 assists. Next on the team are center Chris Richards, with 8 goals and 22 assists, and Benoit Genesse, with 11 goals and 12 helpers. Kris Knoblauch is among the top 15 rookies, with 9 goals and 6 assists. Forward Dallas Anderson ranks fourth in the CHL with 147 penalty minutes. And goalie Matt Barnes ranks in the top ten at 12-7-1 with a 2.53 GAA and .923 save percentage.

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

Potential Bite Victims: Fort Worth is 16-10-3 on the season, just four points behind Bossier-Shreveport in the Northeast. The Brahmas lean heavily on their top scoring line led by veteran Chad Woollard. Woollard leads the league with 23 goals and 10 power play goals, and with 20 assists, ranks third in overall scoring. Right behind him is linemate Martin Paquet, with 14 goals and 27 assists. The third member of the triumvirate, Bryan Lundbohm (10 goals, 20 assists) just returned from a three-game call-up to Milwaukee of the American League. In an effort to add depth, the Brahmas re-signed former Ice Bat Joey Bastien last week, following his return from Europe. And three-year ECHL defenseman Eric Lind was added this week. It's been tough this year for the Ice Bats to get the puck by veteran goalie Dan Murphy (12-8-2, 2.45 GAA). Fort Worth is 10-5-1 at home, 6-5-2 as a road team.

Despite a 17-5-5 record, Colorado is eight points behind Wichita in the Northwest (albeit with four games in hand). The Eagles are loaded again, leading the league on offense (3.63 goals per game), defense (2.19 average goals allowed), and the penalty kill (91.4%). And their power play is tied for second, at 19.4%. Once again, veteran winger Greg Pankewicz leads the Eagles, ranking 4th in CHL scoring with 17 goals and 24 assists. Speedy center Riley Nelson has 18 goals, 17 assists, and rookie Kevin Marsh 15 goals and 14 helpers. Active d-men Brad Williamson and Matt Desrosiers have added 22 and 21 points, respectively. And Colorado is blessed with the league's top goalie. All-Star starter Tyler Weiman is 15-2-4, with a 1.63 GAA, amazing .943 save percentage and five shutouts. 8-2-2 as a road team, the Eagles have a long trip after their home games against Topeka Wednesday and Friday. They'll jump down to Lubbock Saturday, and then to Austin for Sunday's game.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 41-21-2 lifetime against Fort Worth, but winless in three games against the Brahmas this year. The Brahmas edged the Bats 1-0 in a shootout December 18th, the only meeting played in Austin. The Brahmas won the last game of the series, 4-2 in Fort Worth December 21st.

The Ice Bats will face Colorado for the first time ever this Sunday.

Cave, Sweet Cave: This Saturday and Sunday is billed as "Guaranty Win Weekend," presented by Guaranty Bank. If the Ice Bats fail to win either night this weekend, fans in attendance may redeem their ticket stub for a free seat to the January 20th home game.

Saturday night, the "Bud True Music Concert Series" continues with a performance from Del Castillo following the contest. Sunday, a free skate with Ice Bats players follows the game.

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.

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.

Happy New Year from Ice Bats Hockey!

THIS WEEK:

Fri., Jan. 7th, 7:30pm, vs. Fort Worth Brahmas, at Fort Worth Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas

Sat., Jan. 8th, 7:35pm, vs. Fort Worth Brahmas, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas

Sun., Jan. 9th, 4:00pm, vs. Colorado Eagles, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas

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