Bats Debut New Goalie, Play Admirably, but Lose 2-1 to Odessa at Home

Tony Quesada (who's only known as "New Guy," according to Britt Dougherty in the pregame press conference in Moorsey's Bar) made his debut Friday night at the chilly Bat Cave and played well enough to only allow two goals but still picked up the loss due to his teammates inability to give him much goal support. He ended the night with 18 saves on 20 shots. Brian Swiniarski of the Odessa Jackalopes slapped a rebound past Quesada 11:56 into the second period which ended up being the game-winning goal in this hard-fought and fast-paced game. With a flurry of five penalties within three minutes in the first period it's surprising that all the goal were scored with the teams at even strength. Both power-play units came up empty with five chances each.

The Ice Bats host their Southern Conference rivals the Amarillo Gorillas tonight at 7:30pm at the Chaparral Ice Arena. It's guaranteed win night. If Austin fails to win, all fans in attendance will receive a free ticket to a future home game. For more, see www.icebats.com.

Austin defenseman Adam Holmgren led off the scoring 2:58 into the first but that would be last the Bats saw of the back of the net for the evening. Julian Smith and Jean-Franciose Picard each picked up an assist on the goal. Quesada made a miracle/lucky save with 13 minutes remaining in the third to keep the Bats in the game but to no avail. Odessa's goalkeeper Mike Gorman stopped 36 of 37 shots and was named the first star of the game. Austin's Holmgren won third-star honors.

Other tidbits from the pregame press conference: Dougherty is out for the season but plans on returning next year. When the fans were asked if they had any questions, they only seemed to be concerned with whom to heckle. The Jackalopes' forward Don Margettie won that honor. Austin coach Bill McDonald was more interested in the Bats executing their game plan than in the out-of-conference Jackalopes scouting report.