Ice Bats Warm Up to Playoff Run

February 21, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 19-19-10 on the 2006-2007 CHL season, third in the Southeast Division. The Ice Bats are currently in playoff position, just one point back of the fifth-place seed in the Southern Conference, with the top six conference teams making the playoffs. The Bats have begun play at all-new Chaparral Ice Arena, located on I-35 between Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway.

With a 3-2 record since the return of Coach Brent Hughes to the bench, the Ice Bats return to play within the division this week. The Ice Bats host Rio Grande Valley Saturday night, between road trips to Corpus Christi and Laredo.

A look back: Last Friday, the Ice Bats scored three power play goals to earn their third straight home win, 5-4 over New Mexico. Forward John Ronan's goal early in the third was the last in a seesaw game, in which the Scorpions fought back three times to even the score.

The Ice Bats got started early on Ray Smegal's goal 1:29 in. New Mexico's Mike Prpich tied the game midway through the first, but the Bats retook the lead 1-1/2 minutes later. Defenseman J.F. Picard's deflected shot from the point came just one second after a power play expired, nearly giving the team four man-advantage goals on the night.

The Scorpions retied the game early in the second, but again the Bats forged ahead two minutes later on Terry Virtue's power play score from the left wing. Virtue scored another power play marker at 13:03, but this time it was New Mexico's turn to counterpunch, Prpich scoring again 13 seconds later.

The Scorps' Konrad Reeder tied the game a third time with a power play tip late in the second, but Ronan's power play winner came 5:48 into the third. Prpich finished with three points, while Virtue's two goals led Ice Bats scoring. The Ice Bats' three power play goals came on ten chances.

On Saturday, Ice Bats penalty killing kept them in the game, but couldn't prevent a 2-1 home loss to Memphis, snapping the Bats' three-game winning streak. The Ice Bats held the league's #2-rated power play scoreless on ten man-advantage chances.

The RiverKings opened scoring on a Jason Sessa goal late in the first. Austin's John Ronan countered at 12:18 of the second, looping high into the left circle, and beating Memphis goalie Kevin Schieve with a hard wrist shot. But Ryan Held's deflection at 16:45 put the RiverKings ahead again.

The Ice Bats bore down in the third, but couldn't get any of their 13 shots past Schieve, who stopped 28 of 29 for the game. Bats goalie Tony Quesada was denied victory despite stopping 27 of 29 shots faced.

Clickin': The Ice Bats' top scoring line of Aaron Davis, Henry Kuster and Mike Tucciarone has combined for 53 points over the last dozen games.

Power Plug: The Ice Bats' once-dormant power play now has scored 13 times over the last dozen contests.

Wounded Wings: Ice Bats forward Mike Possin is likely to return off the injured reserve list for play this week. Possin has missed the last five games. Defenseman Adam Holmgren remains on injured reserve, and will be out an unspecified period. Also out is defenseman Chris Ovington, who was recalled to the AHL Houston Aeros while conducting rehab, but could return to the Ice Bats next week. Finally, winger Mike Tucciarone is listed as questionable for the coming weekend.

Player Plaudits: Winger Henry Kuster has taken over the team scoring lead with 22 goals and 24 assists. John McNabb is next with 18 goals and 19 assists. Forward Mike Tucciarone has 14 goals and 20 assists, and Julian Smith has 16 goals and 16 helpers. Forwards Chris Murphy and Marty Doyle each have 174 penalty minutes to lead the team, Doyle ranking second among all CHL rookies.

Goalie Miguel Beaudry is 12-6-8 with a 2.88 GAA in net, and ranks among the league's top ten goalies. Despite just a 2-6-2 record, goalie Tony Quesada has an even better 2.72 GAA.

Potential Bite Victims: At 27-18-6, Corpus Christi has moved within seven points of Laredo in the Southeast. The Rayz have gotten outstanding goaltending from Brent Zelenewich (10-8-2, 2.54 GAA) and Ron Vogel (17-10-4, 2.58 GAA), both of whom rank among the league's five best. As a result, the Rayz rank second in total defense, allowing a mere 2.67 goals per game. Top six scorer Justin Quenneville leads the team with 25 goals and 35 assists. Jason Baird has 15 goals, 39 assists, and Derrick McIver and Matt Turek 44 points each. Corpus Christi has been a better road team than at home, where they're 13-12. The Rayz are coming off a shootout loss Tuesday night at Bossier-Shreveport.

Three games below .500 at 20-23-6 going into their game Wednesday night, Rio Grande Valley nonetheless is just two points behind the Ice Bats and a potential playoff spot. Several moves in January were designed to add punch to the team's offense, which ranks 15th in the league (2.76 goals per game). Import David Masse ranks among the league's top six, with 29 goals and 31 assists. Veteran Jason Cirone has 20 goals, 27 assists and forward Dennis Maxwell 42 points, but there's not a lot of scoring depth beyond that. Splitting time in net have been Jeremy Symington (13-12-4, 3.01 GAA) and Jeff Van Nynatten (7-10-1, 2.97 GAA). 8-13-2 on the road, Rio has tough travel to New Mexico, Odessa and Austin this week.

Winner of three straight, Laredo is 31-13-5 for the top spot in the Southern Conference. The Bucks are another excellent defensive team, allowing 2.73 goals per game, third best in the league. Top four goalie Eric Marvin has seen the bulk of the time in net, and is 16-5-4 with a 2.57 GAA. Scorer Bobby Chaumont (22 goals, 26 assists) ranks second among rookies, and Jeff Bes (17 goals, 28 assists in 37 games) would certainly rank among the league's best had he had been healthy all year. Defenseman Adam Rivet has added 16 goals, 27 assists, and forward Serge Dube 43 points. 15-7-3 at home, Laredo hosts Amarillo Thursday, visits Corpus Saturday, and hosts Austin Sunday.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 56-32-9 lifetime against Corpus Christi. But although just 2-4-2 against the Rayz this season, the Ice Bats are 2-1-1 in games played in Corpus Christi.

The Bats are 20-15-2 lifetime against Rio Grande Valley, and have swept all six meetings this season, four of them played in Austin. After Saturday, the Ice Bats and Killer Bees will still have five more meetings down the stretch.

Austin is 16-29-2 lifetime against Laredo, 2-5-1 this season. The Ice Bats are 1-3 in Laredo, and have dropped the last four in the season series.

Comments From the Coach:

On Last Week: "The game has always revolved around specialty teams, but is more about that than ever. Last week was a perfect example. Our power play won the day Friday, and our penalty killing kept us in it Saturday. You look at the standings, and the top teams always have a good power play and a pretty good penalty kill. It was a strong weekend. I thought we deserved more than just two points. The guys gave me what I expect."

On This Week: "We're trying to get healthy as much as possible going into three games in three nights, a situation we have a fair bit of the rest of the year. Playing 16 guys in a 'three-in-three' is a tough deal. Besides Rio Grande, it'll be my first look at the rest of the division up close. I'm anxious to see what kind of team Ken McRae has built in Corpus, and from the looks of it, Laredo has another fast, scoring team that, under Ruskowski, will always work hard. We need to get points out of just about every game because of the way the standings change night to night. Arizona's win on Tuesday puts us right back in a pressure situation."

The "New" Bat Cave: This season, the Ice Bats begin a new era at Chaparral Ice Arena, located on I-35 between Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway. Saturday is fans' last chance to register for a Polaris Predator ATV, to be given away on the ice courtesy of Woods Fun Center.

Saturday is also "Hall of Fame Night," as the Ice Bats Fan Club inducts goalie Matt Barnes, forward Gerald Tallaire, defenseman Derek Nicolson and former owner John McVaney into their Hall of Fame. Also scheduled to appear are fellow Hall-of-Famers Ryan Anderson, Kelly Smart and Jeff Kungle, and former Ice Bats Peter-Emmanuel Brady and Ian Larocque. Ice Bats fans are invited to wear jerseys of their favorite players and come get autographs from Ice Bats greats of the past.

In addition to providing tickets through the Ice Bats office at 927-PUCK, the Bats are for the first time utilizing Front Gate Tickets as the team's ticket outlet. Fans may conveniently purchase tickets at any Front Gate Tickets location, including Stubbs BBQ, Waterloo Records and Encore Video & CD.

Fans may order on-line through the Ice Bats website at www.icebats.com. Phone orders may be placed by calling (512) 927-PUCK, or 1-888-512-SHOW. Individual game tickets range in price from $15 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 2006-07 regular season and CHL Playoffs. The games will also be available on-line, through the station website at www.espnaustin.com. Ice Bats VP of Broadcasting, Media/PR Glen Norman will handle play-by-play duties for a ninth 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.

In addition, the CHL has partnered with industry leader ONEsite to launch 'myCHLteam.com', a new digital community designed to increase and enhance fan, player, team and league interaction. ONEsite is a leading provider of private labeled social networks and communities, and provides individual websites, blogs, photo galleries and much more to fans at no cost. Fans may log onto www.MyIceBats.com to sign up or for more details.

THIS WEEK:

Fri., Feb. 23rd, 7:05pm, vs. Corpus Christi Rayz, at AmericanBank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas

Sat., Feb. 24th, 7:30pm, vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, at Chaparral Ice Arena, Austin, Texas

Sun., Feb. 25th, 4:00pm, vs. Laredo Bucks, at Laredo Entertainment Center, Laredo, Texas



Central Hockey League Stories from February 21, 2007


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