“Lights Out” at the Bat Cave

While the film “The Dark Knight” is raking this weekend, earning a record $18.5 million in gross revenue just from its 12 a.m. opening screenings early Friday morning (according to the AP), a fatal blow was dealt to professional ice hockey in Austin, Texas a little over a month ago, when the Central Hockey League’s Austin Ice Bats announced “Lights Out” at the Bat Cave for the upcoming season.

No more “Guaranteed Fight Night” in Austin. At least not on a hockey ice sheet.

I was reminded of the Ice Bats’ tragic fate by reading an interview with Andrew Leach, Capitals assistant coach Jay Leach’s nephew, who recently signed on with the Texas Brahmas, another CHL franchise.

Why did the Ice Bats fail? Well, the team was planning to relocate into a brand-new, 6,800 seat arena in nearby Cedar Park (about 20 miles from Austin). Instead, Cedar Park officials pulled the rug out from under the Bats, coaxing down south the AHL’s Iowa Stars, affiliate of the Dallas Stars. That AHL franchise will be renamed the Texas Stars, and play in Cedar Park beginning in 2009-10.

Read an eloquent requiem for the Ice Bats here, and for still more tales from the Central Hockey League and a nice summer beach read, check out Zamboni Rodeo by Jason Cohen.

I spent a little over a week in Austin this past February, in part to run the Austin Marathon. While there, I took in an Ice Bats game during — what appears for now, anyway, to be — the team’s final season. I previously wrote elsewhere an account of my experience at the game, but I’m posting it here (with some polishing and updating) for a bit more summer reading material.

I hope that some of all of this piques your interest in minor pro hockey in unlikely places, as it had mine.

Even with a 29-33-2 record, the Ice Bats reached the CHL playoffs this past spring for the first time in five seasons. They lost a best-of-three first round series two games to one, to close the books on the franchise.

image from austinchronicle.com

The game I attended sparked a 10-5 run that vaulted the team into the post-season, and provided a small, but fiercely loyal, fan base with a suitable send-off.

Thursday’s (February 21) opponent hailed from the Rio Grande Valley — the Killer Bees. Specifically, they play in Hidalgo, Texas, a border town located in the southern-most tip of the Lone Star state. The final score was 5-1 in favor of the home team.

Kurtis Kisio, son of long time Ranger veteran Kelly Kisio, skated for the Ice Bats, and scored a goal on this night. Notable on forward for the Killer Bees, perhaps for his name only, was one Robin Big Snake, who (surprise) has his own website.

The thought of a Native Canadian skating for a team in a Texas border town, in a new arena that cost $23 million to build and seats 5,500 for hockey, is surreal.

The Bats played in the Chaparral Ice Arena. Its, in essence, a neighborhood ice rink off Interstate 35, and was very modestly retrofitted to seat about 2000 for pro hockey spectators. The bleachers were transformed, for ticket seat assignment purposes, into individual “seats” by way of plastic seat backs fastened atop them in rows.

Our seats were in the next to last row (pictured below), which was only six rows from the ice. An attendant hand wrote our seat numbers on the tickets. Ushers enforced seating assignments — a few rows closer meant a significant price hike.

A few of these seat backs featured a sticker with the team’s logo and an individual fan’s, or family, surname, and the words “season ticket holder” beneath. A couple of shorter rows of seats were nestled into an empty space on the opposite side of the rink, next to the visiting players’ bench (the seats below the flags pictured above).

The retrofitting of the facility most notably included a “balcony” of a couple of rows, constructed of wood, fit into a corner of the arena, above the main entrance to the ice sheet. Below this balcony, in front of the steps leading to the bleacher seats, sat a vendor selling 16 oz cans of Lone Star and Bud Light out of a picnic cooler.

Other concessions included a typical rec-rink snack bar — popcorn, hot dogs, and nachos. (And though the area is a paradise for tex-mex lovers, those nachos remained the standard corn discs, arranged in a plastic tray, with a side compartment of hot processed “cheese product.” Those mouth-watering pickled jalapeno slices, however, did grace the concession stand counter.)

Upstairs featured a bar and some “sky box” seating, all facing the goal on which the Bats attacked twice. The ubiquitous neon “Dos Equis TeXXas” beer sign cast an inviting glow above the bar.

The rink was properly cold. Hard-core fans brought blankets, and wore sweatshirts and Uggs. A few gentlemen wore cowboy hats. I saw one Dallas Stars jersey and one of the Houston Aeros, the latter worn by a very young fan. (The Bats were loosely affiliated with the Aeros and, in turn, the Minnesota Wild.)

There was a lot of hollerin’ and a lot of glass pounding from the faithful assembled.

The scene just prior to puck drop, once the lights dimmed (or rather just went out), was straight out of “Slapshot.” The warbly PA address system spit out unintelligible renditions of the names of the Ice Bats’ starters, while each player skated out, trailed by a spotlight which frequently missed the mark.

Musical entertainment featured some hockey arena staples from a decade ago, like Fatboy Slim’s “Rockafeller Skank” and Sum 41’s “Fat Lip” (the latter of which I fondly recall was featured on the EA Sports NHL 98 game).

Like the six goal Jerry’s Pizza promotions that long-time Capitals fans may recall, a local Ice Bats’ sponsor restaurant dispensed coupons for five free wings when the Bats scored five goals. After each goal, an off-ice official posted up one letter, boldly printed on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper, on the rink wall behind the officials’ table. To eventually, on this night, spell W-I-N-G-S.

One especially ardent fan, clad in a pristine authentic Bats jersey, situated himself right up against the corner glass. When the good guys scored, he tossed a handful of plastic bats onto the ice. (Recall Scott Mellanby’s legendary locker room slapshot of a live rat, which led Florida Panthers’ fans to toss out plastic rat toys during the 1995-96 season.) The practice was obviously encouraged, as a rink employee swiftly scooped the bats up off the ice and handed them back to the same fan for the next go-around. “Keeping Austin Weird,” for sure.

As for the game itself, the play was what one watching a league at this level might expect. Most players showed little faith in the backhand. I saw a lot of open pivots while facing defenders, with no protection of the puck, leading to a great many deflections and take aways. A lot of well-meaning one timers went awry — a deft pass followed by a mammoth wiff of the intended shot. Netminders scrambled and overcommitted, but the Bats’ goalie, Miguel Beaudry, did make some flashy saves (and stopping 31 of 32 overall) to prevent a competitive affair. The referees called a passable game — I saw no glaring missed calls or overzealous hands raised.

But make no mistake — the competition level was quite entertaining. These guys came to play.

It was a singular experience. I hope the Bats find themselves someplace to skate again in 2009-10.