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Playoffs Hinge on Final Week

March 22, 2006 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 33-26-3 on their 10th-Anniversary 2005-06 season, after winning eight of their last ten games. Heading into the final weekend of the CHL regular season, the Bats are in third place in the CHL's Southeast Division race, and hold one of two wild card playoff positions in the Southern Conference. As of the conclusion of play Tuesday, the Ice Bats are one point behind Rio Grande Valley, but two points ahead of Amarillo in the Conference.

The Ice Bats need a total of four standings points to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2003. Any combination of two Ice Bats wins or Amarillo regulation losses will give the Bats a spot in the post-season. If the Bats win both of their remaining games Friday at Memphis and Sunday at Tulsa, Rio Grande Valley would then have to win both of their remaining games to knock the Ice Bats from the #3 to the #4 playoff seed.

Home Stretch: Here's how the final week sets up for the three teams vying for the two Southern Conference wild card playoff spots:

Team: Games Played: Points: Remaining Schedule:

RGV 62 70 Fri. @ Amarillo / Sun. @ Odessa

Ice Bats 62 69 Fri. @ Memphis / Sun. @ Tulsa

Amarillo 61 67 Fri. vs. RGV / Sat. @ Okla. City / Sun. vs. Lubbock

A look back: After winning six of seven games on the road, the Ice Bats split a pair of games last weekend at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton. Friday night, the Bats scored five unanswered goals in a 5-2 win over Tulsa.

Tulsa built a 2-0 lead on goals by Mike Possin and Marek Dora early in the first. The Bats cut the Oilers' lead in half on an Aaron Davis breakaway goal from the slot at 12:09 of the opening period. Defenseman Julius Halfkenny scored from the point 1:24 into the second period to tie the contest, and the Bats took the lead at 11:44 on an Aaron Schneekloth shot that deflected off Julian Smith's skate for a power play goal. The Bats added a Jeff Neufeld goal and a Darryl McArthur power play score in the third.

Halfkenny and Davis had two points each, as the Bats cashed in on two of five power play chances. Austin goalie Miguel Beaudry stopped 38 of 40 shots faced to eliminate Tulsa from playoff contention.

Last Saturday, the Laredo Bucks ignited for three goals in a 29-second span in the second period, and coasted to a 7-4 win over the Ice Bats.

The Ice Bats built a 3-1 lead in the first period. Defenseman Jonathan Jolette scored on an odd-man rush six minutes in, then after Laredo tied the score on a five-on-three power play goal from James Hiebert, the Bats scored twice within a minute. Jeff Neufeld tipped in a power play goal and Julian Smith jumped on a loose puck below the left circle with 5:22 left in the period.

But Laredo's flash fire began on back-to-back goals from Chris Grenville, his second scored from the point 4:16 into the second period. Just 18 seconds after that goal, Jeff Bes scored from the left wing to give the Bucks their first lead.

Bucks forward Brent Cullaton then scored a power play goal early in the third to stretch the Laredo lead to 5-3. Austin's John McNabb closed the lead to one with a power play goal at 8:50, but 27 seconds later, Laredo defenseman Adam Rivet scored, and Grenville completed the hat trick with an empty net goal in the final minute.

Grenville had five points, Bes and Hiebert four points each to lead the Bucks, while Jolette scored four points for Austin. Both power plays were prolific, the Ice Bats scoring on half of their six power play chances, while Laredo cashed in twice on five opportunities.

Player Plaudits: Winger John McNabb leads the Ice Bats with 31 goals and 35 assists. Forward Aaron Davis (53 points) is second on the team in scoring. And Mike Tucciarone is fourth among all rookie scorers with 45 points, ranking second among first-year players in goals (25). Aaron Schneekloth ranks among the top ten defensemen with 16 goals and 26 assists. Earlier this week, Tucciarone was named to the CHL All-Rookie Team, and he is nominated for CHL Outstanding Rookie honors. Schneekloth is a finalist for the CHL Outstanding Defenseman award. Goalie Miguel Beaudry is 11-7-1 with a 2.76 GAA since joining the Ice Bats.

"Torch" Run: The Ice Bats congratulate former Florida Panthers Head Coach John Torchetti, who was today named interim Head Coach with the NHL Los Angeles Kings, replacing Andy Murray. Torchetti assisted Ice Bats Head Coach Bill McDonald during this season's training camp in Austin, and also served as Bench Consultant with the Bats this season.

Potential Bite Victims: Although just 21-35-5, Memphis is still tied for second place in the Northeast Division. But the RiverKings are also winless in their last five games. Top scorer Derek Landmesser leads all d-men with 16 goals and 59 assists. Second-year pro Travis Banga (32 goals, 35 assists) has had another fine season, and veteran Don Parsons has 27 goals and 35 assists in 49 games. As long as Parsons and Landmesser are there, the RiverKings will be potent on the power play-- this year's team ranks only behind Colorado, converting at 18.5%. But the ‘Kings rate 13th on the penalty kill and are last defensively overall, allowing nearly four goals per game. Goaltending has been split between Guy St. Vincent (11-20-2, 3.69 GAA) and Michael Dilorenzo (9-9-3, 3.44 GAA). 14-15-1 at home, Memphis plays at Bossier Thursday before welcoming the Bats Friday.

Like Memphis, Tulsa is winless in its last five games, and will miss the post-season. However, the Oilers have put together a 28-27-6 record while competing in the tough Northwest Division. Top rookie Jim Dahl ranks 9th overall with 35 goals and 46 assists. Veteran Henry Kuster (34 goals, 39 assists) also ranks in the top 15, and carries an 8-game point streak into the week. Forward Jaroslav Cesky has 34 goals and 37 assists, and Mario Joly ranks 4th among defensemen with 54 points. Defenseman Shawn Futers leads the team with 249 penalty minutes. But for a team that ranks in the top five in amassing penalty minutes, the Oilers rank last in killing them (81.7%). Goalie Marco Emond (20-17-1, 3.45 GAA) has seen the bulk of the time in net. 14-12-4 at home, Tulsa hosts Bossier-Shreveport and visits Memphis before wrapping up the season against the Bats.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 7-5 lifetime in regular season play against Memphis, 2-1 this season. The Bats won both meetings in Austin, but lost 4-1 in the only visit to Memphis, on December 20th.

The Bats are 5-3-2 lifetime against Tulsa, 2-1 this season. As with Memphis, the Bats defeated the Oilers twice in Central Texas, but lost their only visit to Tulsa two weeks ago. The Oilers stormed back from a 3-0 deficit to win that game, 6-4 on March 10th. Sunday's game will be the third meeting of the teams over the final three weeks.

Comments From the Coach:

On Last Week: "I thought we played pretty well in both games, and we certainly appreciated the fan support during the two games in Belton. It was definitely to our advantage to play those games close to home. I thought we might have actually played with more energy in the loss Saturday than we did in winning Friday. It was a bit of a war, and we played really well in the first period. During that short time in the second, we gave up some inopportune goals, which sunk us. But we had chances toward the end to win. It's hard to be down on the guys for their effort."

On This Week: "We knew it would probably come down to this week, and we're right in it. We have to go into the week thinking we need to win both games. Then if we get some help, fine. But they're not going to be easy games. We always have trouble at Memphis, and Tulsa will be playing their last game. You always want to win the last one. Even if we're lucky enough to clinch a spot by Sunday, that game could determine whether we get the number-three seed."

Cave, Sweet Cave: 209-97-22 in ten years of play at the Travis County Expo Center, the Ice Bats in February announced they will vacate the Expo Center and move to Chaparral Ice Center, located on I-35 South between Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway. The Ice Bats will begin play at Chaparral Ice during the 2006 President's Cup Playoffs, should the team qualify for post-season play.

Because of the unavailability of the Expo Center, the Ice Bats played four playoff games at Chaparral Ice in 2003, hosting New Mexico and Laredo en route to the President's Cup Finals. After the conclusion of this season, permanent seating will be installed to bring the building's capacity to close to 2,000 fans, with other improvements to include a renovated club area upstairs overlooking the ice and an expanded concession area downstairs. In addition to a raucous, energetic environment for fans, Chaparral Ice will give the Ice Bats greater scheduling flexibility, a superior location, and the ability to provide corporate partners the year-round display of their message. Chaparral Ice will remain the team's home arena until construction is complete on a new facility, currently under study.

Tickets for Ice Bats home games are on sale now through the Ice Bats office at 927-PUCK, or at any Texas Box Office location, including all Austin-area HEB stores. For on-line orders, fans may visit www.TexasBoxOffice.com. To charge by phone, fans may call the Ice Bats ticket office at 927-PUCK, or Texas Box Office at (512) 477-6060.

Individual game tickets range in price from $11 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 2005-06 regular season and CHL Playoffs. The games will also be available on-line, through the station website at www.espnaustin.com. The Bud Light Warm-up Show begins 20 minutes prior to game time. Ice Bats VP of Broadcasting, Media/PR Glen Norman will handle play-by-play duties for an eighth 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.

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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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