Iguanas Year in Review

Published on April 22, 2002 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
San Antonio Iguanas News Release


Another season has come to a close for the Iguanas and again it happened far too soon with a playoff loss to Austin. The team established itself during the regular season as one of the best in the seven-year team history finishing 40-16-8 (88 points). In the final In the Crease minor league hockey rankings, the Iggys finished eighth (rankings based on all AA level minor league hockey teams) and fourth among Central Hockey League teams.

San Antonio made tremendous strides in the pecking order of the hockey world by becoming affiliated with the American Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies. Goaltender Brent Belecki spent time with Utah in the early part of the season and center Blair Manning finished the year with the Grizzlies playing in all five first-round playoff games prior to Utah being eliminated by Houston.

The regular season for the Iguanas saw the team match or surpass the team records as far as winning streaks. The team matched its longest overall winning streak with seven straight from February 17th thru March 8th. The Iggys also equaled their longest road winning streak with five straight victories away from Freeman Coliseum. As far as games in the Ice House go, the Iguanas went over two months without losing a game on home ice (nine straight games in all). The home winning streak established a franchise record.

The team also experienced success in the seats as over 150, 000 fans came through the turnstiles giving the Iguanas the third highest attendance average in the CHL. The Iggys had 12 games of over 5,000 fans including two games with 8,000+ Iggy faithful. The largest crowd of the season saw San Antonio defeat Oklahoma City 5-2 on January 25th (8,309). The weekend of February 22nd and 23rd showed the hockey blood that pumps through the veins of Central Texas when over 14,000 sport fans climbed the seats at Freeman Coliseum to see the Iggys prevail in back-to-back games on back-to-back nights against Lubbock and Corpus Christi.

In the post-season, the Iguanas split the first two games with the Ice Bats winning game two in Austin but dropping the next two games falling three games to one in the first round best of five series. Austin has since proceeded to the President's Cup finals.

The Iguanas toughest battle in 2002 however may be off the ice where once again San Antonio is faced with the prospects of having two hockey teams in the same city. The loyal fans of the Iggys are far too familiar with the struggles that may be ahead but the staff and management of the Iguanas want to thank you in advance for your continued support of the Iguanas.

"I am so proud of the Iguanas fans and the entire organization," said General Manager Rick Carden. "It has taken us a lot of time and a tremendous amount of hard work to try and get over some of the obstacles left in our path from the days of the San Antonio Dragons. We will continue to battle and continue to work hard towards vaulting the sport of ice hockey into the forefront of the sports world here in the city of San Antonio. We as a team on the ice have never backed down from a challenge and I can guarantee you that we as a team off the ice will not back down from any roadblock that may be presented to us. We will overcome any obstacles and be battling in the Central Hockey League once again in the fall. The entire Iguanas family thanks you (the fans) for another great season and we look forward to taking the ice next year in the Alamo City."

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Central Hockey League Stories from April 22, 2002


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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