This last weekend was off to a sad beginning with the previous story but I readily admit that Saturday’s Icebats game was an exciting, nail-biting respite from the mourning. Austin’s team has had a terrible season, first the near miss due to them being left at the altar by Cedar Park (again), and then they’ve only had two victories putting them in last place for their division. Personally, I’m not surprised due to only three vets returning and the remainder being some guys they probably hired on the cheap. I decided to go to the game anyway, this would be the last home stand for two weeks and I wanted to see if they still needed volunteers on hosting a player over Thanksgiving (no on the latter, they hit the road and will be in Arizona during the entire week).
The lady sitting behind me said she had a good feeling about this match against the Odessa Jackalopes. I thought, “yeah, right!” At best, this roster could only make it a closer loss than the clobbering they received from the Youngstown Steelhounds and no matter what, Laredo seems to have their number. Well I’m glad the lady’s optimism carried over. It was the greatest Bats game I’ve ever been to. How I wish I really pressed on borrowing my brother-in-law’s video camera too. The majority of the best goals were scored on my side of the rink and I need new content to practice on.
So here’s how it went down…the Bats drew first blood with a fantastic text-book play executed by Thompson, Klann and Kuster. Ronan lit the lamp two more times with a pair in the first and second periods. Then as always, they couldn’t defend their lead and the Jackalopes pulled ahead. By the closing minutes of the third period, it looked like it was time to head out and beat the rush in the parking lot. Luckily, Austin received one last opportunity with a power play in the remaining 90 seconds. Coach Hughes applied the predictable, desperate strategy of pulling Beaudry (the goalie) out to give the Bats six men. Either they were hungry to score or Odessa’s guys couldn’t push out the puck because I didn’t see any serious chances of an empty netter. Still, the Bats’ shots were getting foiled as the clock was running out and suddenly Thompson clinched it with nine seconds left! Everybody was on their feet shouting and rubber bats landed on the ice. I didn’t care if they lost now, I got my 21 bucks worth of hockey action on Thompson’s goal alone. Overtime resulted in five minutes of nothing conclusive and the teams had to settle it through a shootout which doesn’t follow the same rules as the NHL (read on). Normally, I dislike the shootout rule since my teams have the less reliable goalie in one-on-one situations and Beaudry is Austin’s backup. Saturday must have been his night. Beaudry restricted Odessa to one goal in the first three rounds while Tessier tied it up to keep Austin alive for what went to be a 13-round shootout. Tense would be an understatement to describe the next 10 rounds of a sudden-death resolution.
Here’s where the CHL differs from the NHL. Normally, both leagues go with an initial three-round set up and usually the best three shooters-snipers from each team go. If it goes to sudden death in the fourth round and on, the two NHL teams must use new players until no one is left on either side; the longest NHL shootout is 15 rounds and it was won by a Rangers defenseman not known for scoring or assisting. In the CHL, the best shooters get another chance after the tenth round, thus, Tessier nailed it again to win the game. You’d think the Bats had won the President’s Cup with how excited they were but it was probably more over their seven-game losing skid coming to a fantastic end.