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Playoff Dreams Still Alive

March 9, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 19-23-13 on the 2006-2007 CHL season, fourth in the Southeast Division. The Ice Bats trail Rio Grande Valley by just two points in the race for the sixth and final playoff position in the Southern Conference. The Bats have begun play at all-new Chaparral Ice Arena, located on I-35 between Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway.

This weekend, the Ice Bats try to snap an eight-game winless streak, hosting Arizona and Colorado. A matching portion of ticket proceeds from the games will go to benefit Make-A-Wish. The Bats then finish the week with revenge on their minds, with a huge return trip to Rio Grande Valley on Sunday.

A look back: The Ice Bats were 0-2-2 in four games over the past week. Call last Thursday's game one of missed opportunities for the Ice Bats, who dropped a 1-0 decision at Oklahoma City. Among the opportunities missed, a chance to jump back ahead of Rio Grande Valley for the final playoff position in the CHL Southern Conference.

The Blazers netted the game's only goal midway through the second period, Garrett Prosofsky's power play rebound of a Mike Burgoyne centering pass. The Ice Bats had a multitude of chances, but failed to cash in against a shaky Blazers goalie Sean Connors. Two minutes into the second period, Connors cradled a shot from the point and fell backwards into the crease. The goal light behind him came on, but referee Tom Sterns disallowed the goal after a consultation with the goal judge.

The Ice Bats' best chance came five minutes into the period, as forward Marty Doyle led an odd-man rush and niftily steered around Connors, only to send a shot off the left post. Connors twice more denied the Ice Bats on odd-man chances in the second period, and the chances dried up in the third, as the teams combined for just ten third period shots.

With 22 saves, Connors earned his second shutout of the season. Ice Bats goalie Miguel Beaudry stopped 28 of 29 shots faced.

Last Saturday, Laredo stormed back from a two goal deficit in the final 3:33 of regulation and edged the Ice Bats in a shootout, 6-5. The Bats got off to a good start with a first period power play goal from Chad McIver and a rebound goal by Marty Doyle. But the Bucks outshot the Bats, 17-2 in the second period, and evened the score with a pair of goals.

The Ice Bats went back to work in the third, opening a 4-2 lead in the first seven minutes. Julian Smith scored from down low, and Henry Kuster on Mike Tucciarone's centering pass off a two-on-one rush. After the Bucks' Steve Simoes scored shorthanded, Bats defenseman Adam Davis scored on a centering pass from the point, deflected past a lunging Laredo goalie Kevin Reiter.

But Laredo's Jeff Bes cut the lead to one at 16:27, and on the power play with three minutes left, Laredo Coach Terry Ruskowski pulled Reiter for an extra attacker. The gamble paid off, as Bucks defenseman Adam Rivet scored the tying five-on-three power play goal.

After a scoreless overtime, Serge Dube and Steve Weidlich notched shootout goals, while the Ice Bats were stymied on their four attempts. The Bucks outshot Austin, 49-25 for the game to earn their eighth straight win.

Last Sunday, the Ice Bats came out on the short end of another shootout, losing a 2-1 goalie duel to Odessa. Goaltenders Miguel Beaudry of Austin and Mike Gorman of Odessa matched each other save for save through two scoreless periods. The teams then swapped power play goals in the third, Odessa's Jay Latulippe scoring early in the period, and Austin's John Ronan countering with two seconds left on a man-advantage at 12:51.

The goalies then held serve through a scoreless overtime, and the Ice Bats actually scored on two of their first three shots in the shootout. But Gorman shut out the Bats' final three shooters, and Odessa's Blaine Bablitz scored the winner in Round Six. For the game, Gorman finished with 32 saves, Beaudry with 34.

This week, the Ice Bats suffered a low-water moment, a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Rio Grande Valley before a spirited crowd of 5,600 schoolchildren in a special "Kids Day Only" game Tuesday morning. The Killer Bees scored five times in the second period to move two points ahead of Austin for the final playoff spot.

The teams matched playoff intensity in a scoreless first period, but the Killer Bees dominated the second face-off to final buzzer, scoring five times within a nine-minute stretch. Rio Grande defenseman Adam Blanchette opened scoring, banking in a centering pass 10:36 into the fatal period. Just 2:25 later, Matt Medley scored wide-open from the slot, and Mark O'Leary added a rebound goal exactly two minutes after that.

The Killer Bees poured it on with goals 31 seconds apart late in the second. Finally, after Matt Reynolds' five-on-three power play goal 3:38 into the third, Coach Brent Hughes pulled a powerless goalie Miguel Beaudry and put goaltender Chris Cole into the contest. A local amateur product coached three years ago by Hughes at Round Rock High School, Cole was signed as an emergency backup last week. He stopped all seven shots faced to finish the game.

Reynolds's two goals and forward Dennis Maxwell's three assists led Rio Grande scoring. Killer Bees goalie Jeremy Symington stopped all 20 shots faced to earn his third shutout.

Roster Flights:

Departures: On Wednesday, the Ice Bats received goaltender Tony Quesada from his call-up to Houston of the American League. To make room on the roster, the Ice Bats released emergency backup Chris Cole. But then late Thursday, the Aeros called Quesada back up, most likely for the remainder of the season. As of late Thursday, the Ice Bats had not signed a backup to Miguel Beaudry.

Wounded Wings: Defenseman Adam Holmgren has been moved to the 45-day injured reserve list, and will be out the remainder of the regular season. Also out is defenseman Chris Ovington, who remains with the AHL Houston Aeros while conducting rehab. Ovington's return remains up in the air.

Player Plaudits: Winger Henry Kuster has taken over the team scoring lead with 24 goals and 26 assists. John McNabb is next with 20 goals and 23 assists. Center Aaron Davis has 36 points, and Mike Tucciarone has 14 goals and 21 assists. Goalie Miguel Beaudry is 12-10-10 with a 2.97 GAA in net, and ranks among the league's top 13 goalies.

Best of the Best: For the seventh straight year, Austin was voted as "Best City" in the annual CHL "Best of the Best" Poll of league coaches, players and PR personnel. For the second straight year, "Fang" placed second in voting for "Best Mascot," while for the first time, Chaparral Ice Arena fans placed second in the voting for "Most Annoying Fans" in the league.

Potential Bite Victims: Despite the loss of the league's top goal-scorer to recall, Arizona has won eight of ten to get to 28-26-1, second in the Southwest. Third in overall scoring, Brent Kelly (40 goals, 42 assists) is up with Albany of the American League, but will be needed for the Sundogs to go deep into the playoffs. He's also a big part of the league's #2 ranked power play (19.7%). Unsung Cory Stillman (25 goals, 36 assists) ranks among the league's top ten scorers. Among the leaders in scoring by defensemen, Chris Bartolone (11 goals, 45 assists) and Daniel Laperriere (45 points) put the puck on net with regularity. Goalie Chris King (14-10, 3.16 GAA) has the best numbers among those with significant time in net, but the Sundogs got a shot in the arm with the assignment of Mike Wall (1-1, 2.88 GAA) by the NHL Colorado Avalanche. Arizona is 12-17 on the road.

Injuries recently caught up with Colorado, winners in just half of their last ten games. But the Eagles are starting to get healthy, and at 40-14-1, are tied with Laredo for most points in the league. Leading the league on offense (4.02 goals per game) and the power play (22.3%), the Eagles are so potent that they can do without perhaps the league's best player-- forward Greg Pankewicz, who's been out to injury since mid-November. Fourth in CHL scoring, Riley Nelson (37 goals, 41 assists) is a specialty teams demon, with 15 power play goals and eight shorthanded scores. Veteran Ed McGrane has 24 goals, 35 assists, power forward Ryan Tobler 23 goals, 35 assists and Brad Williamson 58 points, tied for the lead among d-men. And there's more where that came from. Among those coming off IR is goalie Marco Emond (24-6, 2.59 GAA), who gives Colorado a veteran presence in net. 14-10-1 away from the nest, the Eagles visit Laredo before coming to Austin.

Rio Grande Valley is 23-25-7 and is two points ahead of the Ice Bats and Odessa in the playoff race. Top ten scorer David Masse has 29 goals and 32 assists, but was a late scratch for Tuesday's game. Veteran Jason Cirone (23 goals, 28 assists) is the team's MVP. Forward Dennis Maxwell has 16 goals, 34 assists, and active d-man Matt Medley 11 goals, 30 helpers. It will be interesting to see who gets more time in net down the stretch, young Jeff Van Nynatten (7-11-2, 2.79 GAA), or the more experienced Jeremy Symington (16-13-4, 2.99 GAA). With Tuesday's win, Rio Grande is 13-10-4 at home. They'll play two in Corpus Christi before finishing the week with a rematch against the Bats.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 1-1 against first-year Arizona in two close games. The Bats lost 4-2 November 22nd at Arizona, then edged the Sundogs, 4-3 February 10th in Austin.

The Bats are 0-2-1 lifetime against Colorado, but gave the Eagles all they could handle in the season's only other meeting before falling 3-2 in overtime December 30th in Loveland.

Despite Tuesday's loss, Austin is still 20-16-3 lifetime against Rio Grande Valley, 6-1-1 this season. But the Killer Bees have claimed the last two meetings. The Bats are 2-1 at Hidalgo.

Comments From the Coach:

On Last Week: "Last weekend's games could have gone either way, we just didn't get the bounces. And we're obviously not a good shootout team. But the efforts weren't that bad. The Rio game, when you consider how important it was, to play that badly was mind-boggling. I'm not sure where the guys' heads are at sometimes. Everyone knows we're not only battling for the playoffs, but for spots next year. I don't know why they sometimes want to make my decisions easy."

On This Week: "We might need to win seven of the nine games left to get in. We can't depend on others to do the work for us. I'm looking forward to seeing how the guys respond against Arizona. We're not just taking a game at a time, we're taking a period at a time. We're still struggling to ride a full 60-minute effort. Until we can play a full 60 minutes, we're not going to be successful like we need to be."

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. Friday is "Dollar Dog Night," presented by Wienerschnitzel, with hot dogs just $1 throughout the game. Fans may visit their Austin or Cedar Park Wienerschnitzel locations for a $5 discount coupon to the game.

The Ice Bats have also announced a special benefit to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at this weekend's games. The Ice Bats will make a matching donation for all advance ticket sales for the games Friday and Saturday, with proceeds to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and South Texas. Fans may call (512) 927-PUCK for details.

At this Saturday's game, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will also offer "Make-A-Wish Dollars" for purchase by fans as an additional donation. The local Make-A-Wish chapter expects to grant 200 wishes this year to children with life-threatening medical conditions, with each wish costing an average of $5000 to grant.

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., Mar. 9th, 7:30pm, vs. Arizona Sundogs, at Chaparral Ice Arena, Austin, Texas

Sat., Mar. 10th, 7:30pm, vs. Colorado Eagles, at Chaparral Ice Arena, Austin, Texas

Sun., Mar. 11th, 4:05pm, vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, at Dodge Arena, Hidalgo, Texas



Central Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2007


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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