This is Jason Tessier, sans his trademark beard. Jason is one of the toughest offensive blueliners I’ve seen in Austin and the hero of the 13-round nail-biting shootout last November.
The site has been pretty heavy on the hockey entries but hang in there it’ll thin out soon because the NHL playoffs start this week!
Meanwhile, last week was crazy as I implied and I didn’t get around to posting my pictures of the post-season party for the Icebats and their fans. The owner generously threw the get-together at Dave & Buster’s with food. There wasn’t any talk about what next Fall has in store for the franchise’s future thanks to the Cedar Park matter coming together. Personally, I’ll take the Icebats and their 12-year legacy of being here over an AHL franchise tied to the Dallas Stars, a team with a history of carpetbagging. Besides, this team will be in Cedar Park, not Austin which means it’ll have to be called the Texas Stars or something dumb. The ‘burb lacks Austin’s overall character too; remember, I stated earlier it’s one of those places that renamed a major street after Ronald Reagan.
Four-time Goalie-of-the-Week winner Miguel Beaudry. He really earned the job of being number one between the pipes and kept Austin alive.
Anyway, the party was a time to celebrate one helluva’ season, namely the second half when the team pulled together and nailed a slot in the playoffs for the first time in five years. Not a small achievement in the CHL. I had the opportunity to actually speak to key players I wanted to meet, thank them for playing in Austin (despite our rather small venue) and wish them well on their future plans; some will tryout in leagues higher than the CHL, some will retire and some will think about what they want to do next. My recent movie was well received by them and the owner; I’m behind on e-mailing them the others (next goal when this is posted). I appreciated it. I mean, I would do it for fun anyhow and to play around with iMovie. It’s my way of saying thanks. Many venues aren’t keen on cameras, let alone video ones.
Daniel Veenema is a favorite of my fellow fan Professor Mark, he teaches at Penn and UT. Last Fall, Daniel got cut from a team out East so he drove non-stop to Austin just to tryout and earned a spot!