Ice Bats Squash the Bees, 5-1

(Austin, TX) – After suffering from a three game sweep last weekend, the Ice Bats entered Chaparral Ice Arena on Thursday looking to get their playoff push back on track against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, a team that contributed to that three game sweep defeating the Bats, 5-2, last Friday.  This time it was Austin getting offensive with the Bees, banging home five goals in the 5-1 win.  The Bats kept pace in the playoff carousel passing Corpus Christi for sixth and pulling within one point of Amarillo for the final postseason spot in the CHL’s Southern Conference.

Austin got on the board first when RG Flath slipped a wrist shot past Bees goalie, David Lemanowicz, for his 11th goal of the season.  John Ronan assisted Flath’s goal, which came from inside the right circle.  1-0, Ice Bats.  The offensive pressure continued when Jason Tessier’s shot from the point was deflected in by Brendan Cook.  It was Cook’s team leading 21st goal this season on Tessier’s helper, Mike Bartlett added an assist as well.  The Bats led 2-0 with a little over four minutes to play in period one, and that’s how things stood as both teams entered the locker room.

The Bats picked up right where they left off in the second period.  After missing last weekend’s games, Ted Vandermeer made his presence known by returning to the lineup and scoring his 13th goal of the season, banging home a rebound.  Tessier and Bartlett added the helpers to make it 3-0, Ice Bats.  The Bees finally made their way to the scoresheet on a goal from Danny Lapointe.  Robin Big Snake and Josh Garbutt had the assists.  21 seconds later the Bats would answer back on Cook’s second goal of the game, his 22nd of the season, to make it 4-1, Ice Bats.  Aaron Wilson and Geoff Patton assisted on the goal, which caused Rio Grande to change goalies sending in AJ Bucchino in place of the starter, Lemanwicz, but it wouldn't make things any better.  The Ice Bats continued to attack the offensive zone as Kurtis Kisio made the score 5-1 on a pass from Wilson.  It was Kisio’s seventh of the year.  The Ice Bats headed into the second intermission leading by four. 

The third period was scoreless between the two teams as the Bats skated away with a 5-1 victory.

The Bats head to Hidalgo, TX on Friday for game two of their home-and-home series against the Killer Bees.  The puck drops at 7:35 PM and can be heard locally on 1530 ESPN Austin and espnaustin.com.