Austin Ice Bats
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The Austin Ice Bats are a minor-league ice hockey team based in Austin, Texas, United States. Affiliated with the Central Hockey League, the team was named in honor of the Mexican Free-tailed Bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) which nest under the Congress Avenue Bridge in the city.
The team was established in 1996 and played home games in Luedecke Arena at the Travis County Exposition Center, a multi-purpose building which was furnished with skating ice and dubbed the "Bat Cave" for the games.
On February 15, 2006, the Ice Bats announced they would vacate the Expo Center and relocate to Chaparral Ice, near Austin's border with neighboring Pflugerville, for future seasons, until construction is complete on a new facility (currently under study). The Ice Bats cited new scheduling conflicts at the Expo Center as the main reason for the move.
On February 5, 2007, voters in Cedar Park, Texas, a suburb of Austin, approved the raising of $30.8 million in bonds in order to build a new expo center that will serve as the future home of the Ice Bats. The new multi-purpose events center will serve as the permanent home of the Ice Bats, as well as be used for concerts, performances, graduation ceremonies and other civic events.
[edit] External links
- Ice Bats - Official site
- Chaparral Ice website
- Ice Bats gain voter approval for $30.8M Cedar Park events center
| Central Hockey League | |
| 2006-07 teams: Amarillo Gorillas | Arizona Sundogs | Austin Ice Bats | Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs | Colorado Eagles | Corpus Christi Rayz | Laredo Bucks | Lubbock Cotton Kings | Memphis RiverKings | New Mexico Scorpions | Odessa Jackalopes | Oklahoma City Blazers | Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees | Rocky Mountain Rage | Tulsa Oilers | Wichita Thunder | Youngstown Steelhounds | |
| Suspending operations for 2006-07 season: Fort Worth Brahmas | |
| Trophies and Awards: Ray Miron President's Cup | |
| Related Articles: NHL | AHL | ECHL | SPHL | UHL | World Cup | |
