The Austin Ice Bats were a professional minor league

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, from 1996 to 2008. The were originally members of the

Western Professional Hockey League The Western Professional Hockey League (abbreviated WPHL) is a defunct minor professional ice hockey league. The WPHL operated from 1996 to 2001 with teams based in the southern United States, primarily Texas and Louisiana. The league started with ...

(WPHL) and later the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

(CHL). The team was named for the

Mexican free-tailed bat The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat (''Tadarida brasiliensis'') is a medium-sized bat native to the Americas, so named because its tail can be almost half its total length and is not attached to its uropatagium. It has be ...

s ('' Tadarida brasiliensis'') that nest under the

Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge (formerly known simply as the Congress Avenue Bridge) crosses over Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. Before construction of the Longhorn Dam was completed in 1960, the bridge crossed the Colorado Riv ...

in the city.

History

The team was established in 1996 and played home games in Luedecke Arena at the

Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is n ...

Exposition Center, a multi-purpose building that was furnished with skating ice and dubbed the "Bat Cave" for the games. The team was originally a member of the

(WPHL). The Ice Bats joined several other WPHL teams in a merger with the

(CHL) in 2001. The Ice Bats finished first in their division in both the 2001–02 and 2002–03 season, making it to the championship game and losing to the

Memphis RiverKings Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

both times. On February 15, 2006, the Ice Bats left the Travis County Exposition Center and relocate to Chaparral Ice, near Austin's northeast border with neighboring Pflugerville. The Ice Bats cited scheduling conflicts at the Expo Center as the main reason for the move. Chaparral Ice proved to be an unsuccessful venue and seated only 500 fans. For the 2006–07 season, they were affiliated with the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confe ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

and the Houston Aeros of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

. The team was coached by former

player Brent Hughes from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2008. In May 2008, the team announced it was leaving Austin due to lack of fan support at Chaparral Ice center, which had a maximum seating capacity of 500. Anticipated competition with the announced

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the te ...

of the AHL was also cited as a factor. The team attempted to relocate to Ford Arena in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont– Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston ( ...

, for the 2008–09 season, but was unsuccessful. In 2021, a new junior team was launched using the Ice Bats' name in the

North American 3 Hockey League The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is an American Tier III junior ice hockey league that consists of teams from Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New Yor ...

Media

Throughout the franchise's history, the Ice Bats had three play-by-play announcers: Mark "Space Wrangler" Martello, Glen "Sharky" Norman and Brian "Sun" Rea. Bob "The Blimp" Fonseca was the team's first PA announcer. Philip "Dollar" Billnitzer covered the Bats for the Austin-American Statesman during the inaugural season and continued to cover them for CitySearch.com for two more seasons.

References

External links

Chaparral Ice
official web site {{Authority control Sports in Austin, Texas Defunct Central Hockey League teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1996 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2008 Ice hockey teams in Texas Defunct ice hockey teams in Texas 1996 establishments in Texas 2008 disestablishments in Texas Minnesota Wild minor league affiliates