Thankful Ice Bats Try to Build on Streak

Published on November 22, 2005 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are off to a 5-8 start on their 10th-Anniversary 2005-06 season. But with victories over division foes Rio Grande Valley and Corpus Christi last week, the Ice Bats find themselves just two points from moving into third place in the Southeast Division race.

The Ice Bats will board a bus Thanksgiving Day for a trip to Amarillo and a Friday game in the Panhandle. The Bats will then return home to face Memphis Saturday.

A look back: The Ice Bats swept two games from division rivals last week, their first two-game win streak of the season. Friday, the Bats scored four third period goals to roar past Rio Grande Valley, 6-2 at the Travis County Expo Center. Ice Bats forwards Dave MacIntyre and Paul Vincent and defenseman Aaron Schneekloth each scored one goal and two assists in the winning effort.

The Bats jumped on the board 2:31 into the contest, with Vincent poking home his own rebound for a power play goal. MacIntyre followed with a score late in the first. Rio Grande Valley cut the lead in half on Nathan Rosychuk's rebound goal with 1:21 to play in the second period.

Ice Bats defenseman Darryl McArthur threw the puck in off the post from high in the right circle 3:22 into the final period. Just 40 seconds later, Killer Bees forward Dwayne Hay brought Rio Grande within one, but just 55 seconds after that, the Bats were back on the board on Schneekloth's power play goal.

The Bats tacked on scores from John McNabb and the first professional goal for Sheldon Wenzel to win going away. Meanwhile, goaltender Miroslav Kopriva stopped 31 of 33 shots faced. Kopriva was making his first start since his assignment last Thursday from the Ice Bats' AHL affiliate in Houston.

The Ice Bats scored twice on six power play chances.

On Saturday, the Ice Bats scored two late third period goals to turn a tight 2-1 contest into a 4-1 win over the Corpus Christi Rayz.

The teams combined for three power play goals in the first period. Aaron Schneekloth scored off a pass from behind the net 11:42 into the opening period. Four minutes later, Corpus Christi defenseman Bernie John scored a five-on-three power play goal. But with just 59 seconds left in the period, the Bats retook the lead on a Mike Tucciarone score.

The Bats maintained their slim lead into the final four minutes, with Austin goalie Miroslav Kopriva and Corpus netminder Scott Reid matching each other save for save. Finally, at 16:04 of the third, Austin winger John McNabb ripped a shot from the right circle, beating Reid stick-side for a key insurance goal. Austin's Dave MacIntyre sealed it with an empty net goal at 18:11.

Bats forward Aaron Davis led scoring with three assists, while Schneekloth and Tucciarone had two points each. The Ice Bats scored twice on seven power play attempts, and Kopriva, on assignment from AHL Houston, stopped 24 of 25 shots faced for his second win of the weekend.

Roster Flights:

Arrivals: On Saturday, the Ice Bats signed veteran free agent winger Dan Carney. A 12th-year professional veteran, Carney spent ten seasons playing predominantly in the East Coast Hockey League. The checking forward enjoyed his best season in 2003-04, scoring 14 goals and 23 assists in 70 games with ECHL Roanoke. Last year, he scored 9 goals and 15 assists in 58 games with San Angelo. Carney started this season with five games with Missouri of the United League.

Departures: Carney replaces veteran forward Paul Vincent on the roster. Vincent has elected to play in Norway, and left the team following Friday's win. The 11th-year veteran scored 3 goals and 7 assists in eight games with the Ice Bats.

On Tuesday, goaltender Miroslav Kopriva was recalled to the Ice Bats' AHL affiliate in Houston. The 21-year-old Kopriva (pronounced Kop-CHEEV-ka) was a sixth round pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2003, and is the third goalie ever drafted by Minnesota. Kopriva played the past two seasons in his native Czech Republic, competing on a team that last year included NHL names such as Jaromir Jagr, Tomas Kaberle and Jan Hrdina. Kopriva allowed just three goals on 58 shots in his two wins last week.

Player Plaudits: Winger John McNabb leads the Ice Bats in scoring, with 11 goals and 5 assists, ranking 3rd in the league in goal-scoring. Forward Dave MacIntyre is 2nd on the team with 7 goals and 8 assists, and Aaron Davis is 3rd with 14 points. Aaron Schneekloth ranks among the top five league defensemen with 6 goals, 7 assists (all 6 goals scored on the power play). Darryl McArthur is among the top eight d-men with 11 points.

Special Delivery: Ice Bats specialty teams are a big reason for the team's recent turnaround. Over the past three games, the Ice Bats have scored 5 goals on 19 power play chances (26.3%), while killing 14 of 15 opposing power play opportunities.

Potential Bite Victims: After back-to-back appearances in the Southern Conference Finals, Amarillo is slow out of the gate this year, at 3-7-2. The Gorillas are 7 points behind the leaders in the Southwest. Much improved is the Amarillo power play, scoring at 17.9%, 5th in the league. But the Gorillas rank 13th defensively, allowing more than 3-1/2 goals per game. Top 12 forward Derek Hahn returns, and has 7 goals, 10 assists. Veteran defenseman Mark DeSantis and former Bats forward Brent Hughes have 10 points each. In net, the Gorillas have a solid tandem in Jamie Vandespyker (1-4-1, 2.95 GAA) and Shawn DeGagne (2-3-1, 3.83 GAA), but have to play better in front of them. Amarillo is 2-3 at home.

Despite finishing two games above .500, Memphis missed out on the playoffs last year. Four-time Stanley Cup champion as a player, Kevin McClelland takes over as the RiverKings Coach, and has Memphis off to a 6-6 start. Winners of three straight, the RiverKings are now a close third in the Northeast Division. In the top five on both the power play (19.5%) and the penalty kill (86.8%), Memphis ranks last defensively, allowing 3.92 goals per game. Top five scorer Derek Landmesser leads all defensemen with 20 points, and former Amarillo sniper Dorian Anneck has 16. Perennial goal-scoring leader Don Parsons has lit the lamp eight times. Memphis swiped both goalies from New Mexico, and even though both are 3-3, Guy St. Vincent (3.16 GAA) is allowing about a goal less per contest than Miguel Beaudry (4.15 GAA). 2-3 as a road team, the RiverKings swing through Lubbock before coming to Austin.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 16-8-3 lifetime against Amarillo. The teams split a pair of games last season, the Bats losing 4-2 in Amarillo, but edging the Gorillas 5-4 in a shootout at the Bat Cave.

The Bats are 5-4 in lifetime regular season play against Memphis. The RiverKings swept two games from the Bats last year, however, 5-2 in Memphis and 6-4 in Austin.

Comments From the Coach:

On Last Week: "We have to feel better about ourselves after last weekend. We're not giving up too many goals, as I've said before. But the power play was pretty good, we stayed on the same page and worked hard, and we got a couple breaks here and there. That made the difference. The goaltender Kopriva played pretty well, but I think we would have won the games no matter who was in net. Barnesy's been playing well the last few times out too. We're just as capable of performing well in front of him."

On This Week: "It'll be a demanding couple of days. We have to travel on Thanksgiving, but that's part of the job. Even though we haven't seen Amarillo and they've been struggling like we were, we have to be ready. That's a really hard building to play in. And Memphis is explosive with Parsons and Landmesser, they always give you a tough game. We can't rest on our laurels from last weekend."

Cave, Sweet Cave: 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 or www.GetTix.Net. To charge by phone, fans may call the Ice Bats ticket office at 927-PUCK, Texas Box Office at (512) 477-6060, or Get Tix at 1-866-4-Get Tix.

Individual game tickets range in price from $11 to $35, depending on section, with discounted rates for groups of 15 or more. In addition to individual game tickets and group outings, season tickets and corporate partnerships are currently available for the upcoming season, with full-season, half-season and 10-game ticket packages on sale now. 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.

Shuffle Up & Deal: The Ice Bats will hold their second annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament to benefit Ice Bats Children's Charities on Sunday, December 11th at Carlos ‘N Charlie's on Lake Travis. Prizes include Dallas Stars club seats, autographed merchandise and more, with Ice Bats players either dealing or playing at every table. For more details, call 927-PUCK.

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.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Ice Bats!

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Central Hockey League Stories from November 22, 2005


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