On Monday the Austin Ice Bats fired their head coach Bill McDonald and replaced him with Brent Hughes, who previously led the Ice Bats from 1999 to 2003. Hughes is the winningest coach in franchise history, having compiled a 174-74-22 record in his tenure. It didn’t take him long to pick up his first loss with the ’07 version of the Ice Bats. With their star forward John McNabb sidelined for a couple more weeks with a wrist injury, an anemic power-play squad, and the trade deadline approaching this coming Monday, Hughes has his hands full. Austin traveled to Amarillo Tuesday night losing to the Gorillas 5-2. This makes three straight losses for the Bats who were one for seven on the power play Tuesday night. Yuck. Austin returns home this weekend facing the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees Friday night and the Arizona Sundogs Saturday night; both games begin at 7:30pm.
This article appears in February 2 • 2007.