Sports stats



Ice Bats Take 5 of Possible 6 Points

November 25, 2003 - 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 7-7-2 record. After moving into a third-place tie in the Southeast Division last week, the Ice Bats now set their sights on second, with three games around the Thanksgiving holiday. The Bats will host Odessa Wednesday, then play at Rio Grande Valley Friday before finishing the week at home against Corpus Christi.

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 took five of a possible six points last week, rebounding from a shootout loss with a pair of victories. Last Thursday night, the Bats held a 3-0 advantage before the Corpus Christi Rayz stormed back to take a 4-3 shootout win.

Following the firing of Coach Al Sims last Tuesday, the Rayz played their first game with General Manager Pat Dunn on the bench. The Ice Bats took it to them with two first-period goals. Gerald Tallaire's power play goal came just 2:20 into the game. Then defenseman Pat Brownlee skated coast to coast, behind the net and back out in front for the second goal late in the period.

Mike Olynyk tipped in a Brett Seguin pass midway through the second period to boost the lead to 3-0. But late in the period, the Bats started to get into penalty trouble. Dan Shermerhorn batted a 5-on-3 power play goal out of mid-air late in the second. Then Ed McGrane scored another power play goal, a key score coming just 51 seconds into the third period. Finally, forward Cosmo Dupaul, playing in his first game since off-season knee surgery, tied the score at 11:14 of the third.

After a scoreless overtime, the teams engaged in a marathon of a shootout. Austin's Brent Hughes scored in Round Three, only to have Dupaul counter in Round Four. The teams then went through a combined 17 shooters before Corpus Christi's Trent Brandvold decided it in Round 13, the eighth of sudden death. The Bats finished 2 for 6 on the power play, the Rayz 2 for 8.

Last Friday night, the Ice Bats built a 2-0 lead before again surrendering it to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. This time, however, the Bats broke the tie before it got to a shootout-- winning on Darryl McArthur's overtime goal.

The Ice Bats failed to score on a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play in the first. But after a flurry of second-period saves by Austin goalie Jonathan Forest, the Bats scored twice in a 3-1/2 minute span. Shawn Legault poked home a second rebound, and Gerald Tallaire made it 2-0 with a rebound goal of his own.

The Mudbugs cut the lead in half on Craig Soke's blast with two minutes left in the second. And then penalties again forced the Ice Bats to scramble. In a wild sequence over the final minute of the period, the Mudbugs peppered the Austin net on a 5-on-3 power play. Saves by Forest and shot blocks by McArthur and Kelly Smart kept the ‘Bugs at bay.

Bossier finally tied the game with nine minutes left in regulation, Chad Spurr slamming in a Soke centering pass. From there, the teams went to overtime, and with 61 seconds left in the extra session, McArthur ended the game. His initial shot blocked by a sliding Jim Sprott, McArthur grabbed the loose puck and threw it by Ken Carroll.

The Ice Bats killed off all nine Bossier power plays, partly due to the work of Forest, who stopped 36 of 38 shots against his former teammates. The result ended several streaks: Bossier's 6-game overall-- and 5-game home winning streak, and a 6-game winless streak for the Bats on the road.

On Saturday, the Ice Bats finished the week with a 2-1 home win over Fort Worth. Austin struck first for the third straight game, as Shawn Legault tapped in Kelly Smart's centering pass with 3-1/2 minutes left in the first. Bats forward Tab Lardner hit the post on a breakaway from the right wing with a minute remaining in the period, and then again right after Chad Brandimore tied the score on a wrister from the high slot at 5:51 of the second.

About two minutes later, though, the Bats retook the lead, Brent Hughes tipping down Pat Brownlee's shot for a power play score. The Ice Bats then outshot the Brahmas 16-3 in the third, but couldn't pad the lead. Still, Austin scored on one of four power play chances, killed all six Fort Worth opportunities, and got a 20-save performance from goalie Jonathan Forest.

Wounded Wings: Ice Bats forward Josh St. Louis returns this week after missing the last two games to injury.

Potential Bite Victims: Odessa has dropped five games in a row, and at 5-10-2, is in third place in the Southwest Division. Always among the better defensive teams in the league, the Jackalopes aren't quite as good as they're accustomed to being. Scoring 2.35 goals per game, 15th in the league, the Jacks haven't been able to ratchet up the offense to pick up the slack. Second-year star Sebastien Thinel leads the team with 6 goals and 10 assists. Returning All-Star Scott Hillman ranks 2nd among d-men with 15 points, and Mike Rutter has thrown in 6 goals, including 2 of the shorthanded variety. Brent Currie keeps the pot bubbling with 72 penalty minutes. Odessa's goaltending isn't as formidable as in years past, either, as streaky Jeff Blair is 3-5 with a 3.25 GAA, and Toronto farmhand Joel Martin 1-3-2 with a 3.46 GAA. 1-5-1 on the road, Odessa has lost four straight away from the "Jack Shack."

A solid blue-collar team, Rio Grande Valley sits 8-5-2, two points ahead of the Bats in the Southeast. When the Killer Bees win, it's usually because they outworked the other team. Forward Matic Kralj leads the squad with 7 goals and 4 assists. Four others have 9 points each.

Goaltender Jeff Levy, often spectacular, is another reason for their success-- he's 7-4-1 with a 2.58 GAA. Because of their work ethic, Rio Grande Valley is actually a better road team than they are at home, but they're 3-3-1 in the new Dodge Arena. The Bees will play a rare Thanksgiving Day game at Laredo, before winging home to face Austin the next night.

Potential Bite Victims, continued: With General Manager Pat Dunn at the helm in the interim, Corpus Christi is 7-7-2, an identical record to the Bats'. Top 20 scorer Ed McGrane leads the team with 11 goals and 7 assists. Tough forward Brad Wingfield has 15 points, and ranks 2nd in the league with 96 penalty minutes. Workhorse goalie Brent Belecki ranks 3rd in the league in minutes, and is 6-5-2 with a 2.99 GAA. 2-3 as a road team, the Rayz have a tough schedule this week-- they'll host Fort Worth Wednesday, go all the way to Amarillo for a game Friday, and all the way back to Austin for Saturday's division showdown.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 11-2-3 lifetime against Odessa, including a 4-1 Veterans Day loss in Odessa in the season's only prior meeting.

The Bats and Rio Grande Valley have split a pair of games in their first season of play, both decided by one goal. The Ice Bats won 4-3 at home on November 7th, while the Bees turned the tables, 2-1 November 16th in Hidalgo.

Austin is 40-17-3 lifetime against Corpus Christi, with a 3-0 loss November 6th and last Thursday's shootout loss both played in Corpus.

Comments from the Coach:

On last week: "It was a good weekend. Jonathan Forest absolutely stole a game for us out of Bossier. But they came in on a roll, and we're one of only two teams to beat them there. Our defense also carried us against Fort Worth. I thought we looked like a tired team at the start, but really picked it up as the game went on and were the stronger club at the end. I'm really happy to get five of the six points, even though all the games were close."

On this week: "These are extremely important games, even Wednesday's against Odessa. We're looking to build some momentum. And then we need to win some games in our division and make up some ground."

Cave, Sweet Cave: Following Wednesday's game, fans are invited to join their favorite Ice Bats for a post-game party at Lavaca Street Bar, 405 Lavaca St., downtown.

Saturday night, the Texas Department of Transportation sponsors, and the KLBJ-FM "Calendar Girls" will be on hand to sign copies of their calendar and to take on the "Bat Girls" in a spirited game of broomball.

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.

Stars Road Trips: Fans are invited to join Ice Bats players and coaches on bus trips to see the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. The cost of $100 per person includes Stars game ticket, bus transportation and food and beverages while en route. Trips will depart from Chaparral Ice Center, 14200 North IH-35 near Wells Branch. Fans may choose from two games: Sunday, November 30th against the Los Angeles Kings (bus departs at 1pm, game time is 6pm), or Sunday, March 7th against the San Jose Sharks (bus departs at 10am, game time is 3pm). Fans may call 927-PUCK to reserve a spot or for more details.

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.

• Discuss this story on the Central Hockey League message board...

Central Hockey League Stories from November 25, 2003


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.

Other Recent Austin Ice Bats Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central