photograph by Isabel Taylor

The evening put a whole new spin on that old sports clich� “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.” It’s April Fool’s Day at the Travis County Expo Center, but nobody feels much like joking. The El Paso Buzzards are taking it to the Ice Bats, drubbing a suddenly inferior — as well as injured, old, flu-ridden and unfocused — Austin hockey club in game six of a first-round playoff series. A loss will eliminate the Bats from the Western Professional Hockey League postseason, but losing is not what the home crowd notices on this night, even as they watch a 2-0 first period lead become a 4-2 second period deficit and then, with 10 minutes left in the third, a 6-2 foregone conclusion. Still, the 5,000 fans aren’t going anywhere. They’re cheering “Let’s Go Bats!” and “Morgan Sucks!” (Morgan being the ref, natch). They’re soaking up what little hockey is left. When defenseman Scott Shaunessy slams home a point-blank one-timer to make it 6-3, the place goes absolutely … well, batty. “We’re halfway there!” one fan exclaims. But no one thinks victory is possible. They’re just sticking around to see goalie Chad Erickson stuff one last breakaway, to see Ryan Anderson toss one last jab.

They also see El Paso get one last goal. But no matter. With one minute left and play still going, rink announcer Bob Fonseca reads off the names and numbers of all 18 Bats. A full-blown standing ovation ensues, overshadowing El Paso’s muted victory celebration. The Ice Bats line up and exchange greetings with the Buzzards, paying respect to a team that has only lost 3 times in its last 21 games after going 2-7 against Austin during the regular season. Then the exhausted, disappointed Austin players trickle off the ice. Defenseman David Moore hands over his stick to a kid in the bleachers. And for the 70th time since October, forwards Andy Ross and Rick Girhiny are the last to leave, Girhiny first, then Ross. They catch each other’s eye, tap gloves, and finally, hug. The gate is closed on the Ice Bats’ season.

So, as the fans, players, and front office staffers remind themselves that October is just around the corner, here’s a selective look back at some of the plays, players, personalities, penalties, and performances that made the Ice Bats’ year what it was.

Chaaaaad! Chaaaaad!

Ice Bats goalie Chad “Chadly” Erickson
photograph by Isabel Taylor

The Expo Center crowd learned how to shout “BLUUUUUE, BLUUUUUE,” before they even figured out what icing was. This ritual cry was directed at goalie John Blue, an Olympian, former NHLer, California-born surfer and born-again Christian. Goateed, with a scar to the left of his mouth and the thousand-yard-stare typical of goalies and relief pitchers, Blue was a great netminder who also loved to handle the puck. This was both a blessing and a curse; for the fans, it was entertainment — sometimes frustrating and sometimes exhilarating. He earned assists and moved the puck out of the zone with the utmost speed; he also turned the puck over or left the net unprotected. It was never boring, and when he stayed between the pipes he was often brilliant, exterminating scores of pucks as if they were pesky house flies.

But while Blue’s style was provocative and his name was fun to say, the Bats were very much a two-goalie team. Blue and Chad Erickson split the work equally and their stats on paper were extremely similar. It was the steady, focused Erickson who came up big late in the season — his great balance and quick glove hand drove the Bats to a memorable February stomping of first-place New Mexico as well as the team’s two playoff victories. Erickson is from Warroad, Minnesota, a tiny northern town where nearly everyone works for a window factory, so it’s easy to understand why the stopping of flying objects might be important to him.

The Curse of the Expo Center

photograph by Isabel Taylor

The Bats struggled at home more often than not, but in December they went 7-2-1. That was the month that began with the appearance of “Koho,” a shaman, who, it was said, had helped the Rangers break their Stanley Cup drought. Koho’s father, it was also said, had blessed the 1980 Olympic “Miracle On Ice” (though everyone knows that was really the work of “The X-Files”‘ Cigarette Smoking Man). Nevertheless, Koho did a little dance and the Bats spent December victorious.

Now that the season is over, it might be worth noting that “Koho” is also the name of a prominent hockey equipment manufacturer. And that there are a lot of out-of-work actors in Austin. It’s also worth noting that personnel might have had something to do with it. In a gaudy 11-6 victory over Central Texas, elder statesman Jim Burton and team co-owner Paul Lawless were the top stars, combining for 3 goals and 8 assists. Burton, who retired after the playoffs, was bothered by his knees all season. But when he was healthy, he contributed grace, speed, and moves along with leadership and intelligence. Already halfway to his PGA certification, Burton was on his way to a career as a teaching golf pro, but last week he became the Ice Bats new head coach.

Ice Bats Trivia: Who Was Steve Adams?

That’s an easy one, actually: the first ex-Ice Bat (not counting Aaron Dobrescu, who was cut from the roster before the first game). There were many others, starting with Brian Sakic, the Mike Maddux of hockey (his brother is NHL megastar Joe). Sakic apparently rediscovered his scoring touch when he returned to Flint, Michigan, while the Ice Bats rediscovered their scoring touch thanks to Sakic’s replacement, Troy Binnie. Stephan Desjardins, acquired in a trade from Central Texas, was subsequently traded to Waco for a player who ended up scratched for most of the playoffs. Other names for the “Where Are They Now?” file: Brett Fizzell, Mark Deazely, Jeff Gabriel, Rob Hyrtsak, Jeff Massey, Jack Williams, Dave Morrissette (loaned from the Houson Aeros when the IHL suspended him) and John Poirier. Poirier, who spends his off-ice time as a glass-blower, was a favorite of fans. The speedy, undersized penalty killer spent several weeks off the ice before being cut from the team entirely. Ironically, quickness was one thing the Bats lacked in their series against El Paso.

Sunny Gunnar

One player calls him “the man who thinks he knows it all.” Mostly they just call him “a legend.” He’s Gunnar Garrett, the team’s crotchety equipment manager, the man who washes the sweaters, sharpens the skates, and abuses the players. The first time I saw the Ice Bats practice I asked Gunnar if they ever did any hitting, or if they saved the contact for actual games. “This club, hit?” he replied. “They can’t hit anyplace.” When Stephan Desjardins joined the team, the French-Canadian defenseman became, as is hockey custom, “Froggy.” “Hey, Froggy,” Gunnar said to him before his second game as a Bat. “How big would you like your laces? Big enough to hang yourself, or big enough to reach to Quebec?” Gunnar has been around the game for 35 years, and he’s only missed 13 days of work. During one bus ride to Albuquerque, he slept the entire 14 hours.

The True Life Adventures of the Bat Lady,
the Hockey Ho, the Model, and the Deputy Sheriff

photograph by Isabel Taylor

Belton, March 8. Two busloads of Bats fans have made the trip to see a game against the Central Texas Stampede. Much beer has been consumed. A few fans stand out. One is Dottie Barnes, the Bat Lady. Dottie doesn’t care much for hockey but she loves those winged mammals, a biological interest that extends to paraphernalia: She has bat wings, bat earrings, and a stuffed bat on a 15-foot telescoping pole. Then there’s Sharon Allen. Like the Queer Nation or the average gangsta rapper, Sharon has taken a term of oppression (first suggested by KLBJ’s Dudley, Bob, and Debra) and made it her own: She is the Hockey Ho, a cheerleader from hell, with make-up like Mimi from The Drew Carey Show. “Oh boy, was she scary,” Allen says of the persona. Allen just loves hockey, and wanted to psyche up the home fans. “It was a spiritual prostitution rather than a physical prostitution,” she says. When the Bats were eliminated from the playoffs, she cried.

Finally, there’s Nicole Chastain, a model who says she would like hockey even more if the players looked like Brad Pitt and then asks me not to print that (hi, Nicole!). She brings along a sign that makes up in bluntness what it lacks in elegance: “You Suck.” Similar sentiments can be found at hockey arenas across the country, but Chastain is soon confronted by Bell County Deputy Sheriff Lynce, who says the sign is offensive. Mumblings about the First Amendment are made, and Lynce, who is really quite courteous, actually says, “We could go down to the jail and talk about this.” Yes, welcome to the “Bible Belt”–on, so close to the hot crotch that is Austin, but yet so far. Though I didn’t see any cops confiscating the “ASS BITES” signs.

It Must Be the Goatees and Helmets

Troy “Binner” Binnie

The one place the Bats really struggled was in the local media (and lest we seem all high-and-mighty, this is only the second Bats article to appear in the Chronicle, following a “Coach” column). Their own radio station, KVET-AM, relegated many a game to tape delay because of various UT events. It was the same story at the local rag. The Austin-American Statesman was a big supporter of the baseball team that never was and is an official sponsor of Austin’s new soccer club. But when it came to hockey, everything else was more important: UT football, UT basketball, UT women’s basketball, UT baseball, UT volleyball, high school basketball, the NCAA Regionals, the Rockets, the Cowboys, whatever. John Kelso wrote almost as many non-game stories about the Ice Bats as the sports section did, and there was no coverage of away contests, not even in nearby Belton or Waco. After the final loss to El Paso, the paper’s beat reporter asked Troy Binnie if he was disappointed with the way his line had performed in the playoffs. Binnie, a bit confused, explained that his name was Troy Binnie, and that he’d led the team in scoring during the series. At which point the guy, who had covered 30-some Ice Bats games in the past six months, apologized and admitted that he had Binnie confused with one of the other guys. But all hockey players look alike, right?

The Next Paul Coffey?

The Bats final regular season goal was scored by Kyle Haviland. Haviland is one of the Bats’ most important players, a fierce defensive presence, intimidating pugilist, and locker room leader. He is not, however, a big offensive threat. The goal was his first of the year.

Unsung Heroes

You’ve got your veterans Lawless, Burton, and Shaunessy. You got your flashy goal scorers, the top line of Wallwork, Seguin, and Ross (who were among the WPHL leaders) plus Troy Binnie (who would have been if he’d played a full season), and Brian Dobbin. Then you’ve got the rest of the team. Defensemen Chris Morque, David Moore, and Jason Smith played hard and tough all year. Forward Mike Jackson did whatever was needed — sometimes he was a passer and scorer, other times he was an important third line defensive presence. The third line center, Rick Girhiny, was like the Pete Rose of the Ice Bats, proving that feistiness and a solid work ethic can be just as important as speed or playmaking ability. When the Bats played well, Girhiny never seemed to lose a face-off, and you could always find him digging for the puck or sacrificing his body.

Finally, there was Ryan Anderson. The tall, babyfaced rookie began the year as simply a tall, babyfaced body, there to “bang around” and drop the gloves. Around Thanksgiving he was ejected from two games in a row; when I asked him if he was ever going to finish a game he said he doubted it. But that’s not how things turned out. Anderson was moved to defenseman, and under the tutelage of Jim Burton he became a very important player. Most unlikely of all, in game five of the El Paso playoff series he had the key assist on the Bats’ game-winning overtime goal. “I wasn’t ready to go shingle roofs,” said Anderson, whose father is in exactly that business back in Canada. Which brings us to…

Last Stand

Kyle “Havs” Haviland

Being down 3-1 in a seven-game playoff series is like hanging from the ledge of a very tall building. You aren’t falling and you aren’t dead, but there’s no guarantee that you won’t be one or the other soon. The Bats found a safety net during game five of the first round series, in front of a hostile El Paso crowd whose best barb was a sign that read “Get a Penalty, Score a Goal,” a reference to the four shorthanded scores the Buzzards had so far. But goalie Chad Erickson owned this night — his Venus flytrap performance kept the Bats in the game, which was 3-3 after three periods. The WPHL ends its regular season contests with shootouts, but in the playoffs, sudden-death overtime is the norm. There’s nothing quite like overtime hockey. The action never stops and every face-off, every pass, and every shot is a potential game-ender. Plus the players are desperate — if there was a poem about hockey, teams in overtime would be the tired, huddled masses, yearning to be free.

Overtime also creates unlikely heroes, and on this night, along with Anderson, it’s rookie Jeremy Thompson, who deflects Anderson’s shot past the Buzzards goalie. The El Paso crowd goes silent. The Bats, meanwhile, have earned another game at home. When they arrive back at Robert Mueller, a small contingent of fans and media are there to great them. It’s nice, but “We haven’t done anything yet,” Kyle Haviland says, his eyes on the prize. Not surprisingly, Haviland was inconsolable after the game six loss. But the 200,000-plus fans who came to the Expo Center this season still felt like the Bats did plenty, and will do plenty more. Yep, only 150-odd baseball games ’til hockey season!

Former Chronicle staffer Jason Cohen is a contributing editor at Texas Monthly, where he first wrote about the Austin Ice Bats.

This article appears in April 18 • 1997 and April 18 • 1997 (Cover).

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