Ice Bats Ready For Bucks

Published on December 3, 2003 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League have begun defense of their Governors' Cup title, opening the 2003-04 CHL season with a 9-8-2 record. Winners in four of their last five games, the Bats have jumped back into a second-place tie in the division with Rio Grande Valley, 11 points behind Laredo. This week, the Ice Bats try to narrow the gap with a home game against the Bucks. Then after a quick trip to Lubbock, the Bats end the weekend with a Sunday afternoon game against Wichita.

Last season, the Ice Bats earned a franchise-best 46-14-4 record, clinching their second straight Southeast Division title and the Governors' Cup for the league's top overall regular season record.

Defeating New Mexico and Laredo in the 2003 President's Cup Playoffs, the Bats earned their second straight Southern Conference crown and a berth in the Cup Finals. There, however, for the second straight year, the Ice Bats fell one step short of the CHL's ultimate prize, falling to the Memphis RiverKings in five games.

A look back: The Ice Bats enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast a day early, netting a season-high six goals in a 6-3 win last Wednesday night over Odessa. Half the scores came on forward Brent Hughes' second hat trick of the season.

The teams traded goals within a span of 23 seconds midway through the opening period, with Odessa's John Bossio answering a Kelly Smart goal. Then with 4-1/2 minutes left in the first, Daniel Tetrault redirected a Smart centering pass for the first of four unanswered Austin goals.

Hughes flipped in the first of his goals just 52 seconds into the second period, chasing Odessa starting goalie Joel Martin from the game. Smart scored again on an odd-man rush 2:30 into the period, and Hughes scored his second goal five minutes into the third.

At that point, Odessa came back for a couple third period goals, but Hughes cemented the result with his hat trick goal with four minutes left. Smart also had three points, on two goals and an assist. Four other Ice Bats had two assists each, as the Bats claimed their third straight victory.

A look back, continued: Last Friday night, the Bats had their winning streak snapped, 2-0 at Rio Grande Valley. Killer Bees goalie Jeff Levy stood on his head in making 34 saves.

The Bees scored first on Jason Hawes' second rebound at 2:32 of the first period. Despite a host of chances both ways, it was the only goal scored in the first. Rio Grande's Ryan Shmyr, left wide open on the left wing, scored the second goal midway through the second period.

Again, the Ice Bats finished the second period with scoring chances, then threw all they had at Levy in the third. Outshooting the Bees 16-4 in the final period, the Bats forced Levy to make saves post to post and beyond. But he made the stops, trumping Austin goalie Jonathan Forest, who stopped 27 of 29 shots faced. With the win, Rio Grande Valley moved into sole possession of second place in the Southeast Division.

Last Saturday, the Ice Bats jumped back into a second place tie, but needed a comeback effort to do it. Led by forward Shawn Legault, the Bats earned a hard-fought 3-2 home win over Corpus Christi. The game featured five fights between the bitter division rivals.

Despite top scorer Brad Wingfield's ejection just 1:18 in, the Rayz jumped to a 2-0 lead-- on Jonathan St. Louis' power play tip-in midway through the first, and a Patrick Levesque goal midway through the second period. The Ice Bats stormed back on consecutive second period goals. Daniel Tetrault deflected in a power play score off a Corpus defender with seven minutes left, and Legault scored on a Kelly Smart centering pass with two minutes remaining in the period.

Legault hit the post on a long shot with 8:40 left in the third, but did score the game-winner just two minutes later. From his stomach, Smart tipped the puck out to the left wing for Legault's go-ahead goal. Due to late penalties, the Rayz spent the final two minutes with a two-skater advantage, but failed to get the equalizer. Legault had two goals and an assist, while Austin goalie Jonathan Forest stopped 41 of 43 shots faced.

Roster Flights:

Arrivals: This past Tuesday, the Ice Bats obtained defenseman Brandon Carper in a trade with Amarillo, in exchange for forward Joey Bastien and future considerations. Carper, a former All-Star who played two seasons with Lubbock, scored 18 goals and 32 assists with Amarillo last year. He started the current season with 19 games in Germany before returning stateside this week.

The Bats also on Tuesday officially signed winger Chris Legg. Legg, who spent the last four seasons at Brown University, started this year with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the ECHL, and played one game with the Wichita Thunder before released. He was obtained by the Bats off waivers just before Thanksgiving.

Potential Bite Victims: Winners of five straight, Laredo continues to roll along. The Bucks are 15-3-1 and lead the Southeast by 11 points. Pick a way and Laredo can beat you: They lead the league on offense (4.32 goals per game) and the power play (25%). They rank second on defense (2.21 average goals allowed) and third on the penalty kill (88.5%). Perhaps the only way to derail Laredo is through call-ups and injuries. Brent Cullaton and Jeff Bes are tied for second in league scoring with 34 points each. Forward Patrik Nilson (11 goals, 10 assists in 15 games) has just returned from a 3-game American League stint, and veteran Chris Grenville has 10 goals, 10 assists and 6 power play goals. Mike Amodeo ranks 2nd in the league with 105 penalty minutes. Goalies Marco Emond (7-2-1, 2.07 GAA) and David Guerrera (8-1, 2.11 GAA) have been all but interchangeable. 7-2 as a road team, Laredo visits Odessa Thursday before coming to Austin.

At 6-9-2, Lubbock is scuffling a bit, but with just 17 games played, has a chance to move up from 4th in the Southwest. Despite the 5th ranked power play (17.8%) and a decent offense, the Cotton Kings rank 16th on the penalty kill (79%) and may be looking for defensive help. Dave MacIntyre (10 goals, 7 assists) and Joe Blaznek (5 goals, 12 assists) lead the team. Five others are in double digit scoring. But Lubbock has yet to settle on a #1 goalie, as Mike Brusseau is just 3-3, with a 3.68 GAA and has been slightly outplayed by newcomer Jeremy Symington (2-4-2, 3.15 GAA). 4-5-1 at home, Lubbock returns from a Friday tilt at Wichita to take on the Bats.

After a 5-1 start, Wichita is 7-9-3, and in 4th in the tough Northwest race. Defense has also been the source of the storm for the Thunder, as they rank last on defense (4 goals allowed per game) and on the penalty kill (77.9%). Top ten scorer Mark Kolesar leads a balanced attack with 10 goals, 16 assists and five power play goals. Adam Calder has added 11 goals and 11 assists, Anders Strome 10 goals and 11 helpers, and d-man Peter Runkel 17 points. Wichita's defensive woes have come despite allowing the second-fewest average shots on goal. So the Thunder is hoping veteran goalie Nathan Grobins can be the savior. 2-1-1 since joining Wichita from Memphis, Grobins' overall marks are 7-3-1 with a 2.26 GAA. 3-4-2 on the road, Wichita follows up its home game against Lubbock with road swings to Odessa and Austin.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 8-6 lifetime against Laredo, but just 1-3 this year. After earning 5-1 and 3-0 wins in Laredo, the Bucks laid a 6-2 thumping on the Bats November 14th in Austin. The Bats came back the next night to claim the last meeting, 3-1 at the Bat Cave.

The Bats are 6-5-2 lifetime against Lubbock, winning three of the four meetings last season.

Austin is 2-0 in the two-year series against Wichita, winning the only meeting last year. With Sunday's game the only meeting this year, the Ice Bats will have not played in Wichita in three seasons.

Comments from the Coach:

On last week: "I thought we played well all three games. Even against Rio Grande Valley, we played what I thought was a pretty good game, and just ran into a hot goalie. We started a little flat against Corpus Christi, but the guys stepped it up, came from behind and found a way to win. That was an extremely important four-point turnaround for us."

On this week: "Things are taking shape, but now we can't be satisfied with one win here and one there. We have to put a string together and make up some ground. With a couple of moves we've made, we're putting an improved team on the ice. Laredo will be a big test for our altered lineup. Traditionally, we've been a good road team too, and that's where we have to improve. Our road record and our goal scoring on the road hasn't been that good."

Cave, Sweet Cave: Friday's game is "Zamboni Rodeo" Night. Author Jason Cohen will be on hand to sign copies of his book about the Ice Bats and hockey in Texas.

Then Sunday is the season's first Time Warner Cable Family Day. Fans may purchase four tickets, Pepsis, hotdogs and a game program for just $49.99 total. A post-game skate follows the contest.

Sunday is also sponsored by Chaparral Ice Center. Chaparral Ice representatives will be on hand to talk to interested kids and their parents about winter programs, including Learn-To-Skate and Learn-To-Play-Hockey classes. Special intermission performances will feature Chaparral Ice figure skaters, performing excerpts from the upcoming "Hollywood Holiday on Ice" show December 19th at Chaparral. Guest skaters include performers from the Austin Ballet.

Tickets to all Ice Bats home games are now available at all Texas Box Office locations, including the Ice Bats ticket office and all Austin-area HEB stores. On-line ordering is available through www.TexasBoxOffice.com. To charge by phone, fans may call Texas Box Office at (512) 477-6060, or the Ice Bats ticket office at (512) 927-PUCK.

Individual game tickets range in price from $10 to $30, depending on section, with discounted rates for groups of 15 or more. In addition to group tickets, season tickets remain on sale at the Ice Bats office, in full-, half-season, or 10-game plans. Free Belfry Club membership is still included for all new full season packages, as well as free parking for all full-season and half-season plans.

For more information, fans may call the Ice Bats ticket office at (512) 927-PUCK, or log onto the team's website at www.icebats.com.

In the Air: For the second straight season, all Ice Bats away games will be broadcast on News Talk 1260, KWNX-AM. The station will broadcast all road games during the 2003-04 regular season and CHL Playoffs. All road games will also be 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. New on the site, fans can explore the complete line of Ice Bats merchandise, on sale through Chaparral Gear just in time for the holidays.

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.

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 3, 2003


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