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Ice Bats Share Packed Division Lead

November 3, 2004 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League have begun the 2004-05 CHL season with a 2-2 record through two weeks of play. As a result, the Ice Bats are locked in a three-way logjam with Laredo and Rio Grande Valley for first place in the competitive Southeast Division race. Corpus Christi is just a point behind the leaders.

After losing their first road game of the year last weekend, the Ice Bats pile up the bus miles this week. The team will leave on Wednesday for road games Thursday at Memphis, Friday at Fort Worth and Saturday in Laredo. The Ice Bats will travel about 1,800 miles to and from their three games this week.

A look back: The Ice Bats fell behind early in their first road test of the year last Saturday, and were unable to recover, suffering a 5-1 loss at Rio Grande Valley. The Killer Bees scored just 20 seconds in, with winger Bill Newson firing in a shot low to the glove side of Ice Bats goalie Matt Barnes.

Rio Grande's Ryan Shmyr camped in front for another score midway through the first period, and Joe Guenther added a rebound goal in the second period. Power play goals by Jason Hawes and Guenther in the third stretched the lead to 5-0. The Ice Bats got their only goal on a five-on-three power play, Benoit Genesse scoring with just 1:50 remaining.

Newson's three points and Guenther's two goals led the Bees, who fired 48 shots at Barnes. Rio Grande goalie Jeff Levy stopped 30 of 31 shots faced.

Player Plaudits: Second-year forward Benoit Genesse is the league's #3 scorer (leading in goals) through two weeks of play. Genesse has six goals and two assists. Also in the top 20 are veterans John McNabb and Arturs Kupaks (the top scoring defenseman), with three goals and four assists each. Forward Dallas Anderson has the league's early penalty minute lead, with 59 minutes in four games.

Potential Bite Victims: Like the Ice Bats, Memphis failed to qualify for the playoffs last year, after reaching the Finals the previous two seasons. The RiverKings also lost their affiliation with Toronto, but that hasn't kept them from assembling a quality team. Off to a 2-3 start, the RiverKings are starting to lose some of that talent, however, for various reasons. Tied for the league scoring lead, Keith Aucoin (4 goals, 5 assists) has signed a 25-game tryout agreement with Providence, and appears destined to spend his third straight season in the AHL.

Defenseman Ted Crowley, who has appeared in the NHL, received a 25-game suspension for his actions in a game October 24th, and is out while that suspension is on appeal. Of course, the RiverKings still have former CHL MVP Don Parsons (4 goals, 4 assists) and perennial All-Star blueliner Derek Landmesser (6 assists). The ‘Kings haven't been afraid to rough it up so far, as Cory Norris and Ken Goetz have 36 and 35 penalty minutes, respectively. So far, Daniel Boisclair (2-2, 3.43 GAA) has seen the bulk of the time in net.

After consecutive last place finishes, Fort Worth could be the league's most improved team this year. The Brahmas are off to a 2-1-1 start, with a one-point lead in the Northeast Division. Mainstay Chad Woollard is an early top ten scorer, with 5 goals and 2 assists. Martin Paquet also has 7 points. The Brahmas raised eyebrows with the signing of Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Brad Lukowich, who has contributed 3 goals and an assist from the blue line. Former NHL center Lonny Bohonos has been recalled to Chicago of the American League, but the Brahmas replaced him with former Ice Bat Gerald Tallaire, who as a casualty of the league's veteran rule, was the final cut of Austin's training camp.

Scorer Bryan Lundbohm, who has spent most of the last three seasons in the AHL, is also handy. Goalie work has been split between 7th year pro Dan Murphy (1-1, 3.58 GAA) and rookie Larry Sterling (1-0-1, 3.64 GAA).

Laredo nearly lapped the field with a 48-8-8 record last year, smashing the record book en route to the President's Cup title. A good bit of that championship team returns. Winger Brent Cullaton, who spent a good deal of time in the AHL last year, leads the team with a goal and 5 assists. Last year's MVP, Jeff Bes is best known as a playmaker, but has 5 goals. Forward Adam Paiement has chipped in with 2 goals, 3 assists. Talented forwards Scott Kelman and Chris Nielsen were assigned to the Bucks by their AHL affiliate in San Antonio, adding to an already formidable lineup. Rookie of the Year last year, goaltender David Guerrera is 1-3 thus far, with a 2.78 GAA. Trying to improve on their 2-3 start, Laredo makes the short hop to Corpus Christi Friday, before welcoming the Bats on Saturday.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 5-2 lifetime in regular season play against Memphis. The Ice Bats won last season's only meeting, 4-3 in overtime March 4th in Memphis, helping knock the RiverKings from the playoff race.

The Bats are 41-19-1 lifetime against Fort Worth, but despite the Brahmas struggles, the Bats were just 2-4 against them last year, 1-3 in Cowtown.

Austin is 9-11-1 against Laredo, after a 6-2 Bucks win October 24th in Austin. The Ice Bats were 2-7-1 against the Bucks last year, 1-4 in Laredo.

Comments from the Coach:

On Last Week: "We've done too much playing from behind so far. After watching the game tape from last week, we played hard against Rio Grande Valley, we just didn't always play well. We could have been up 2-1 in the first if we'd buried some unbelievable scoring chances. But we're young, and making youthful mistakes. We're not getting beat because we're the lesser team. We just have to correct the little mistakes that are costing us goals and games early."

On This Week: "We've got some travel this week, but these guys have all played junior or college hockey... they know what the travel's all about. Some kids in juniors bus 24 hours to play a game, so this is nothing comparatively. We've been working this week on the defensive side of our game. We're going to score goals, we just have to iron out the turnovers and the defensive mistakes we're making."

Cave, Sweet Cave: After completion of a five-game road swing, the Ice Bats return to the Expo Center for games November 12th and 13th.

Friday, November 12th is Capital Metro "Antenna Puck" Night, with free antenna pucks to go to 5,000 fans. The UT men's hockey team will face Southern Methodist University after the Ice Bats game.

Saturday, November 13th is Armed Forces Appreciation Night, and the Ice Bats will wear special game jerseys to honor America's servicemen and women. SportClips will be on hand to provide haircuts, and anyone who receives a "military cut" will pick up a free ticket to a future home game. Also, the UT hockey team faces SMU starting at 4:45pm, and after the game, the "Bud True Music Concert Series" continues with a free post-game concert from Vallejo.

Season tickets and corporate partnerships are still available for the new season. Once again, free membership to the "Crown Lounge at the Belfry" is included with all full-season packages, and free parking with all full-season and 16-game ticket plans.

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.

THIS WEEK:

Thur., Nov. 4th, 7:05pm, vs. Memphis RiverKings, at DeSoto Civic Center, Southaven, Mississippi

Fri., Nov. 5th, 7:30pm, vs. Fort Worth Brahmas, at Fort Worth Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas

Sat., Nov. 6th, 7:30pm, vs. Laredo Bucks, at Laredo Entertainment Center, Laredo, Texas



Central Hockey League Stories from November 3, 2004


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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