SteelHounds suffer 4-1 loss against Austin Ice Bats; series finale tonight

Austin goalie Kevin Couture rejected 34 of Youngstown's 35 shots in the win.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Julian Smith scored twice and goalie Kevin Couture rejected all but one of Youngstown's 35 shots as the Austin Ice Bats defeated the SteelHounds, 4-1 in a Central Hockey League game Friday night at the Chevrolet Centre.
The series is now knotted at a game apiece with the rubber game set for tonight at 7:05 p.m.
Despite the loss SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski was pleased with his team's overall effort, but noted that the intensity must be there in the final game of the set, a game that he called huge for his team.
"Even though we were on the losing side of the ledger, I was extremely proud of our play tonight. We had some breakdowns and they capitalized on a few of our mistakes, but overall the effort was there and that is what I am most pleased with," he said.
"Give credit where credit is due. Tip your hat to their goalie [Kevin Couture] because he was excellent in goal tonight. It didn't matter if the shot was a rebound or at point blank range because he found a way to keep it out of the net.
"The final game of the series is huge for us because we want to head into Christmas on a winning note. To do that we must put forth the same type of effort we exhibited tonight. We need to be clicking on all cylinders."
Ice Bats score early
It took a little over 48 minutes on Thursday night for either team to score. Last night, the Ice Bats' John McNabb got the scoring brigade started with his 14th goal of the season just 3:10 into the opening period.
When Smith added the first of his two scores at 10:27, Austin had built a 2-0 margin heading into the first intermission.
"Despite building a 2-0 margin in the first period, I thought that Kevin's [Kaminski] team dominated us in the first period. I really wasn't pleased at all with our effort, but we found a way to win in the end and that is the most important stat of the game," Ice Bat head coach Bill McDonald said.
"Both teams have struggled recently on power play opportunities, but we'll settle for the effort and a split right now. We're just happy with the three points that we've earned with a game still left in the series.
"Julian Smith has been quiet of late so for him to have the only goal last night and two of our four tallies tonight, it shows me that he is coming around."
Christian scores 16th goal
The SteelHounds cut the Ice Bat lead in half when team captain Jeff Christian (with assists by Chris Richards and Mark Johnson) tallied his team leading 16th goal of the season, a power play opportunity at 8:35 of the second period.
The goal allowed him to extend his team and league-leading consecutive game point streak to 12, and with 45 points now and a league best 29 assists, remains atop the C.H.L. in the two aforementioned categories.
With an assist on Christian's goal, Richards remained second to his teammate in the league's scoring race with 43 points.
Austin's Ray Smegal then found the back of the net at 15:16 of the period, his first goal of the season which enabled the Ice Bats to build a 3-1 lead with just 20 minutes remaining.
An unassisted tally by Smith at 17:23 of the final stanza then rounded out the scoring.
The SteelHounds held a 35-17 shot advantage.
The Ice Bats improved to 7-4-2 on the road while Youngstown fell to 6-2-2 at the Chevrolet Centre this season.