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Thrillers, Trades & Bees for Ice Bats

February 2, 2004 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Austin Ice Bats News Release


Setting the Stage: The Austin Ice Bats of the Central Hockey League are 19-19-6 in defense of their Governors' Cup title. The Ice Bats enter play this week back in a second-place tie with Rio Grande Valley in the Southeast Division, and in the race for the final Southern Conference playoff position. After visiting Laredo, the Ice Bats will host the Killer Bees twice at home, then finish the week with a home game against Tulsa.

Last season, the Ice Bats earned a franchise-best 46-14-4 record, clinching their second straight Southeast Division title and the Governors' Cup for the league's top overall regular season record.

Defeating New Mexico and Laredo in the 2003 President's Cup Playoffs, the Bats earned their second straight Southern Conference crown and a berth in the Cup Finals. There, however, for the second straight year, the Ice Bats fell one step short of the CHL's ultimate prize, falling to the Memphis RiverKings in five games.

A look back: The Ice Bats won two of their three games last week in thrilling fashion, to get back into a second place tie.

Last Thursday night, the Ice Bats traveled to Corpus Christi, hoping to snap a four-game winless skid. But the Rayz sprinted away late for a 5-1 win to get within five points of the Bats in the division.

The Ice Bats opened to an 8-1 shot advantage. Both goalies Jonathan Forest of Austin and Greg Hewitt of Corpus Christi made tremendous saves in a wide-open first period. But the Ice Bats scored first on a Hewitt turnover, Gerald Tallaire centering to Jaroslav Jabrocky for a goal with just 13 seconds left in the first period.

The Rayz scored the first of five unanswered goals on a turnover as well. Midway through the second period, Cosmo Dupaul knocked down a clearing attempt and centered to Jay Woodcroft, who poked the puck just outside the crease for a Matt Noga score. Roaming unhindered down the slot, Ken Richardson then gave Corpus its first lead late in the period.

The Ice Bats were still within reach heading to the third, but the game spun out of control. Woodcroft tipped in a score early in the period, and Dupaul and Richardson blew it open with scores 1:41 apart. Richardson had two goals and Noga four points to lead scoring. And when the smoke cleared, Hewitt had stopped 41 of 42 Austin shots.

Last Friday, the Ice Bats got revenge on the Rayz, scoring a late power play goal for a 2-1 win in the second half of the home-and-home series. The Bats outshot Corpus 10-3 in the first, and scored the period's only goal on Josh St. Louis' snap shot from the left circle.

Corpus Christi's Brad Wingfield tied the game on a shot from the wing early in the second. But Wingfield also put the Ice Bats on the power play with unnecessary penalties late in both the second and third periods. On his elbowing minor with 3-1/2 minutes left, the Ice Bats won the game. Newcomer Chris Richards tipped in a Darryl McArthur centering pass for the winning power play goal with 2:36 remaining in regulation.

Playing intelligent defense for most of the game, the Ice Bats killed all seven Corpus power plays, and Austin goalie Jonathan Forest stopped 19 of 20 shots faced.

Then on Saturday, the Ice Bats surrendered a four-goal lead to Indianapolis, only to again win in the final minutes, 7-6. The wild game began in strange fashion about six minutes in. Austin's Jaroslav Jabrocky spun a shot off the end glass, off the top of the net, and off the back of Indy goalie Jeff Sanger for a score. The Ice tied the game 1:12 later, and after a Tab Lardner rebound goal, Indianapolis' Chad McIver knotted the score again late in the period.

In the second period, Indianapolis put the Bats on the power play six times, and Austin shooters cashed in for three unanswered man-advantage scores. Kelly Smart's even-strength goal late in the period boosted Austin to a 6-2 lead after two complete.

But things fell apart quickly in the third. Indy's Jim Shepherd scored early in the period, and the Ice put three more on the board in just 44 seconds, capped by Shepherd's second goal at the six-minute mark. The stunned Bat Cave crowd watched as the teams maneuvered into the final two minutes, then erupted when Lardner tipped in Darryl McArthur's centering pass with 1:18 left.

Bats defenseman Arturs Kupaks led scoring with four points, while Lardner had two goals and an assist, and d-man Brandon Carper three assists.

Roster Flights:

At Monday's trading deadline, the Ice Bats announced completion of a deal with Corpus Christi, acquiring defenseman Trent Brandvold in exchange for defenseman Clint Way. Brandvold, who played a full 64 games with Corpus last year, started the current season with the Beaumont-based Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL. He returned to Corpus Christi on Halloween, and had four points in 32 games with the Rayz. Way scored three assists in 42 games with the Ice Bats.

At the deadline's passing, the Ice Bats completed another trade, which will be announced tomorrow pending notification of the players involved.

In other roster moves, the Ice Bats last week released backup goaltender Shawn Conschafter to pursue an opportunity in another league. Conschafter was 0-2 with a 5.87 GAA in three Austin appearances.

Player Plaudits: Center Chris Richards, obtained in a trade last week, ranks 8th in league scoring, with 19 goals and 38 assists. Forwards Gerald Tallaire and Brett Seguin are next on the team, with 41 and 38 points, respectively. Brent Hughes leads all CHL rookies with 19 goals, to go along with 12 assists. And Jonathan Forest ranks among the top 15 league goalies, at 15-12-5, with a 2.64 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.

Potential Bite Victims: Laredo remains the league's top team at 36-5-4, and with a 32-point lead in the Southeast, could clinch the division title in the next week or so. Believe it or not, the Bucks actually lost a game last week-- in overtime Saturday at New Mexico. But that'll be a mere hiccup for a team that leads the league on offense (4.31 goals per game), defense (2.16 average goals allowed), the power play (25.7%), penalty kill (90.1%), and penalty time (28.5 average minutes). Jeff Bes remains the league's top scorer with 26 goals and 59 assists, and has amassed 47 points over the course of an active 20-game scoring streak. Brent Cullaton is second in the league with 25 goals and 50 assists. On his third call-up to San Antonio of the American League, this time, Cullaton might be there for good. But there are lots of others to pick up the slack: Chris Grenville leads the league in goals with 30 goals and 29 assists. Skilled Patrik Nilson has 21 goals and 30 assists, and defenseman Serge Dube 46 points. Mike Amodeo, who leads the league with 221 penalty minutes, is also in San Antonio, but expected to return. And Laredo still has the league's top two goalies, with David Guerrera (21-3-2, 2.02 GAA) taking advantage of the call-up of Marco Emond (15-2-2, 2.04 GAA). Emond has been gone since mid-January. 21-1-1 at home, Laredo has won 15 straight in its own building, making their next home loss another "man bites dog" story.

At 19-19-6, Rio Grande Valley has the exact same record as the Ice Bats, tied for the final Southern Conference Playoff spot. The Killer Bees continue to rank among the top six league teams defensively (2.73 average goals allowed), but made no moves at the trade deadline to improve their last-place offense (2.27 goals per game). All-Star Bill Newson leads the Bees in scoring, with 22 goals and 16 assists. Winger Matic Kralj has added 11 goals and 14 assists, but no one else is in double-digits in goal scoring. Fourth in minutes played, goalie Jeff Levy is 16-14-4, with a 2.42 GAA and four shutouts. Backup Jacque Vezina is 3-5-2, with a 2.54 GAA. Rio Grande Valley is 9-11-1 as a road team, heading into their game Wednesday at the Bat Cave.

Tulsa snapped a 13-game winless streak with an impressive win over Memphis last Friday, but the Oilers are still 13-20-9, and mired in 5th in the talented Northwest Division. Former player Butch Kaebel, who took over coaching duties when Bruce Garber resigned just before Christmas, will finish the year on the bench. Forward Todd Marcellus leads Tulsa in scoring with 21 goals and 25 assists. All-Star Jason Bermingham has 23 goals and 22 helpers. Goaltender Rod Branch is 12-12-6, with a 2.89 GAA. 4-14-5 as a road team, Tulsa has dropped nine straight away from home. They'll host Indianapolis and San Angelo this week, then finish at Oklahoma City and Austin.

The Series: The Ice Bats are 8-8-1 lifetime against Laredo, just 1-5-1 this year. The Bats have been outscored 15-4 in their three losses at Laredo.

The Bats are 3-4-1 in their first season of play against Rio Grande Valley, but have won three of the four games played in Austin. The last game in the series was the best one, with the Killer Bees recording a 3-2 overtime win January 24th in Hidalgo.

Austin is 1-1-1 lifetime against Tulsa, with the Oilers winning the only meeting last season.

Comments from the Coach: On last week: "We made some good additions to our hockey club last week, and once they had a chance to skate with their teammates, they improved our team. Friday's rematch against Corpus was a good defensive effort by our club, and we were able to make some adjustments from the night before. Anytime you can hold a team to 20 shots, it's a good defensive effort. Saturday, we came out with a lot of energy and our power play started to click. We got complacent in the third period and lost focus for a few minutes. It almost cost us the hockey game. Indy's an explosive hockey club, and they were able to capitalize on some bounces. When you get complacent, those bounces go against you. But we stuck with it, and got the goal at the end. Smarty won a big face-off, and McArthur got the puck to the net for the tip."

Comments from the Coach, continued: On this week: "We feel good about the moves we've made, and are making to improve our hockey club. Now we have to go out and get the job done. It goes without saying our games this week are extremely important. Laredo is hard to beat in their building. We'll have to play a good, smart road game and hopefully, pull two points out. Both Rio Grande Valley and us know the importance of our games against each other. Both teams have to feel that they are must-wins. For us, playing at home, I feel we have to win those games."

Cave, Sweet Cave: Wednesday night, one lucky fan has a chance to shoot for a new Ram pickup, in the Dodge "Score-O" contest. And after the game, fans can join the Ice Bats for a post-game party at Lavaca Street Bar, 405 Lavaca, downtown.

Saturday is "Trading Card Night," courtesy of State Farm Bank. The second half-set of Ice Bats trading cards goes to 3,000 fans. Then, after the game, the "Crown Royal Concert Series" gears back up, with a post-game performance from the rock band "Vallejo."

Sunday is Time Warner Cable Family Day. Fans may purchase a package of four tickets, Pepsis, hot dogs and a game program for just $49.99. And former Ice Bats Andy Ross and Ryan Anderson will be on hand, joining Kelly Smart, Brett Seguin and Coach Jeff Greenlaw as the first enshrinees in the "Ice Bats Fan Club Hall of Fame."

Tickets to all Ice Bats home games are now available at all Texas Box Office locations, including the Ice Bats ticket office and all Austin-area HEB stores. On-line ordering is available through www.TexasBoxOffice.com. To charge by phone, fans may call Texas Box Office at (512) 477-6060, or the Ice Bats ticket office at (512) 927-PUCK.

Individual game tickets range in price from $10 to $30, depending on section, with discounted rates for groups of 15 or more. For more information, fans may call the Ice Bats ticket office at (512) 927-PUCK, or log onto the team's website at www.icebats.com.

Hit the Road, Jack: Fans may stop in at Henna Chevrolet to register to win a trip for two on the bus with the Ice Bats as they go to Fort Worth Sunday, February 29th. The top prize also includes premium seats to the game in Fort Worth, a team-autographed jersey and hockey stick, and an official Ice Bats game program. Contestants must be 21 to enter. Henna Chevrolet is located on I-35 North, just north of Highway 183.

In the Air: For the second straight season, all Ice Bats away games will be broadcast on 1260 ESPN Radio, KWNX-AM. The station will broadcast all road games during the 2003-04 regular season and CHL Playoffs. All road games will also be available live on-line, through www.SportsJuice.com. The Texas Dodge Dealers Warm-up Show begins 20 minutes prior to game time. Ice Bats Director of Broadcasting, Media/PR Glen Norman will handle play-by-play duties for a sixth straight season.

Bats in Cyberspace: Bats fans can learn the latest about their team by logging on to www.icebats.com. The official website of the Bats was newly re-designed by BeyondBeyond Design and constructed by webmaster Nathan Jones.

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.

THIS WEEK:

Tues., Feb. 3rd, 7:30pm, vs. Laredo Bucks, at Laredo Entertainment Center, Laredo, Texas

Wed., Feb. 4th, 7:30pm, vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas

Sat., Feb. 7th, 7:30pm, vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas

Sun., Feb. 8th, 3:00pm, vs. Tulsa Oilers, at Travis County Expo Center, Austin, Texas



Central Hockey League Stories from February 2, 2004


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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