Ice Bats defeat Rattlers

AUSTIN, TX - The Austin Ice Bats erupted for four consecutive goals in the second period, two by forward Rob Hartnell, as Austin handed the Amarillo Rattlers a 5-3 loss Saturday before a crowd of 7,681, the second largest home crowd of the season at the Travis County Exposition Center.

Amarillo suffered its second straight loss to start an 11-game road trip, and fell to 18-20-10.

San Angelo's 7-5 win over Odessa Saturday pushed the Outlaws past Amarillo into third place in the Western Professional Hockey League's Western Division.

Austin stopped a four-game winless streak and improved to 25-12-10.

"I thought we had a pretty good effort tonight," Rattlers coach Mike Collins said. "This was a good game for the fans.

"We had a few mental errors, and Austin took advantage of some good opportunities. They're a good hockey team."

Amarillo had a 2-0 lead at the 3:01 mark of the second period following a first period by goal by defenseman Scott Chartier and a goal by right wing Kyle Ferguson.

The Ice Bats then took control with four straight goals.

Hartnell scored the first of his two goals at the 4:21 mark of the second period off Rattler goalie Matt DelGuidice.

Amarillo right wing Rob Hutson pulled the Rattlers within a goal at 4-3 at the 16:35 mark of the second period before Austin left wing Ryan Pawluk closed out the game with a goal with 16:37 elapsed in the third period.

Amarillo outshot Austin, which was playing without forward Jeremy Thompson and defenseman Kyle Haviland due to suspensions following Friday's game against Waco, overall 41-24. Austin goalie Chad Erickson stopped 21 of 24 shots.