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Snowbound Ice Bats Wrap Up '06

December 29, 2006 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 11-10-5 on the 2006-2007 CHL season, third in the Southeast Division. The Ice Bats are just two points out of second place and just seven points from first. The Ice Bats have begun play at all-new Chaparral Ice Arena, located on I-35 between Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway.

After three games in Youngstown, Ohio last week, the Ice Bats this week finish a stretch of six straight games on the road to end 2006. Weather permitting, the Ice Bats will play Rocky Mountain and Colorado, before finishing the calendar year in Amarillo. But a winter storm sweeping through Northern Colorado could delay all or part of this week's action.

A look back: The Ice Bats finished .500 in their three-game series at Youngstown, earning a 1-1-1 record. Last Thursday, Youngstown eked out a 2-1 shootout victory over the Ice Bats, in arguably the best game played by the Bats on the week. With Youngstown possessing the league's top two scorers but a suspect defense, the game promised to feature plenty of fireworks. But the goalies were the stars in a tight thriller.

The Ice Bats held a territorial advantage for long stretches of play throughout a scoreless first period, while keeping Youngstown's Chris Richards and Jeff Christian off the board. The Steelhounds nearly took the lead with 7:12 remaining in the second, but Austin goalie Miguel Beaudry snatched a Chris Shaffer shot out of mid-air and brought it back across the goal line.

Youngstown opened scoring on a John Wheaton goal, banked in off Ice Bats defenders 8:06 into the third period. But the Bats retaliated less than two minutes later. His initial shot blocked, center Jason Kenyon put the puck onto the right circle, and Julian Smith slammed the tying goal into the net.

After a scoreless overtime, the Ice Bats failed to convert on all five shootout chances as well. Christian potted the winner in Round Three. Youngstown goalie David Currie stopped 31 of 32 shots faced in the win, while Beaudry made 24 saves.

Last Friday, center Julian Smith scored twice and goalie Kevin Couture stopped 34 of 35 shots faced, giving the Ice Bats a 4-1 win over the Steelhounds.

Outshot 12-4 by Youngstown, the Ice Bats nonetheless scored twice in the first period. Winger John McNabb buried Ray Smegal's centering pass for a goal at 3:10, and the Bats then took advantage of a misplay by Youngstown goalie David Currie. Caught behind the net, Currie lost the puck to Austin's Mike Tucciarone, who centered for Smith's open goal at the midway point of the period.

The Steelhounds cut the lead in half on Jeff Christian's power play rebound in the second, but the Bats regained a two-goal lead on Adam Holmgren's deflected goal late in the period.

The Ice Bats kept the Steelhounds at bay in the third, and Smith wrapped up scoring, blocking a clearing pass and scooting in for a shorthanded backhander with 2:37 left. Youngstown had two goals waved off in the late going, one ruled batted in by a hand, the other ruled stopped by Couture on the goal line. The Hounds outshot the Bats, 35-17 for the game.

On Saturday, Youngstown's Chris Richards scored twice and Jeff Christian provided four assists, as the Steelhounds defeated the Ice Bats, 4-2 in the finale of the series.

The Bats, who had kept Christian and Richards largely in check in the series, struggled defensively in the first period. Richards put the Steelhounds on the board from the high slot 5:15 into the contest, and Christian picked up his second assist on a Kelly Sickavish goal at 13:39.

Offensively, the Ice Bats had their chances, but Youngstown goalie Brad Roberts stopped all 13 first period shots faced, including a point-blank larceny on a John McNabb shot late in the first. The Ice Bats spent most of the second period killing penalties, including nine consecutive minutes early in the period. At the end, the Bats gave up just a single goal on seven Steelhound power play chances in the period.

The Ice Bats got on the board 45 seconds into the third on a Mike Tucciarone deflection, but Richards' shorthanded goal at 3:14 was the backbreaker. Austin's John Ronan set the final score with a goal midway through the third period.

The Ice Bats outshot the Hounds, 32-31, and scored once on five power play chances, while limiting Youngstown to one goal on nine power play attempts.

Let It Snow: They arrived in different fashions, but all Ice Bats players made it to Colorado for this week's games. Ten players, who made the two-day bus trip from Austin beginning Wednesday morning, arrived in the Denver area at about 1pm on Thursday. Meanwhile, eight team members and Coach Bill McDonald flew in from the holiday break on Thursday morning.

As the team practiced in Broomfield Thursday afternoon, the winter storm began to take hold in the area. The storm, which stretches through the Rocky Mountains and the Texas Panhandle into far Western Texas, is expected to dump one to two feet of snow in the Denver area by Saturday.

Player Plaudits: Winger John McNabb leads the Ice Bats in scoring, with 14 goals and 14 assists. Coming up fast behind him is forward Henry Kuster, who has 12 goals and 8 assists. Defenseman Terry Virtue has 18 points. Miguel Beaudry is 6-5-5 with a 2.82 GAA in net, and Kevin Couture is 5-5 with a 2.96 GAA. Both rank among the league's top dozen goalies.

Potential Bite Victims: In its first season, Rocky Mountain is 6-16-3, and winless in its last eight games. The Rage have been woeful on the road, but although they've lost four straight at home, they still have a winning 5-4-1 home record. Mark Wires leads the team in scoring with 9 goals and 12 assists, while talented Anders Strome has 12 goals and 8 helpers. But the Rage still need to find a way to put the puck in the net with more regularity. One-time CHL Rookie of the Year, goalie David Guerrera is 6-11-2 with a 3.26 GAA. Guerrera ranks second in minutes played, and first in saves and unfortunately, losses as well.

Just 40 miles from Rocky Mountain, but on the other end of the standings is Colorado. The league's top team at 20-4, the Eagles have a seven-point lead in the Northwest. Colorado ranks in the top two offensively and defensively, and their specialty teams both rank among the league's top four clubs. Speedy center Riley Nelson is fourth in league scoring, with 15 goals and 22 assists, including 7 shorthanded goals, and he's scored in nine straight games. Center Chris Hartsburg has 11 goals and 18 assists, and Brad Williamson 28 points, second among d-men. Here's how stacked the Eagles are-- they've won nine straight without perennial MVP candidate Greg Pankewicz, who was lost to injuries after piling up 18 goals and 11 assists in just 11 games. Marco Emond is the league's winningest goalie at 16-2 with a 2.65 GAA, 6th in the CHL. A formidable 12-1 at home, Colorado is scheduled to host Wichita before Austin.

At 12-11-2, Amarillo has won three straight to jump into a first place tie in the Southwest. Top ten scorer Rich Hansen has 11 goals and 19 assists. Wingers Bill Vandermeer (14 goals, 15 assists) and Chris Lipsett (12 goals, 17 assists) also rank among the top dozen scorers. Second in the league with 127 penalty minutes, David Silverstone has 11 major penalties. Jamie Vandespyker is back in net, and is 7-5-1 with a 3.05 GAA. 6-3-2 at home, the Gorillas are scheduled to swing into Wichita between home games against Tulsa and Austin.

The Series: The Ice Bats are to face Rocky Mountain for the first time on Friday.

The Bats have lost both meetings in the short two-year series against Colorado. The Bats will be visiting the Budweiser Events Center for the first time.

Austin is 18-9-3 lifetime against Amarillo, and won two of the three meetings last year.

Comments From the Coach:

On Last Week: "I thought we did all right, going .500 against a pretty good team in Youngstown. It was a little weird to me, as I thought our best game was the game we lost in a shootout. I didn't think we played all that well in the game we won, but we buried our chances. I'm sure the guys had their minds on the holiday, no matter how hard they tried to shut it out. So we're satisfied with the three points we gained."

On This Week: "It's going to be a different week. Rocky Mountain has struggled, but I believe they have a good team, and just have to put it all together. And everyone in the league knows that Colorado is the cream of the crop. We'll have to put our best foot forward. The weather is playing havoc with things, so just getting everyone in to practice was a bit of a chore. If we can play the games, it will be a different kind of measuring stick for us."

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.

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. NOTE: Friday's game from Rocky Mountain will be carried on 1530's sister station, ESPN Deportes at 1260 AM. Fans may listen to the game on 1260, or catch the live web streaming at www.deportes1260.com or www.espnaustin.com.

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.

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2006


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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