The North American 3 Hockey League has announced the addition of an expansion franchise team, as the Austin Ice Bats have been revived and will begin play in the 2021-22 season in the NA3HL’s South Division. The Ice Bats will play out of Chaparral Ice in Cedar Park, a suburb located north of Austin.
The Ice Bats name was originally a part of the Western Professional Hockey League from 1996 until the the WPHL merged with the Central Hockey League in 2001. From there, the Ice Bats continued until their folding in 2008.
Austin becomes the latest of a number of former CHL markets to revive their brand in the junior leagues, as they join the Texas Brahmas and Oklahoma City Blazers in the NA3. We’ve also seen revivals in the NAHL with the Corpus Christi IceRays, Odessa Jackalopes, and the Shreveport Mudbugs. Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley have also seen attempts at reviving the brands of the Bugs and Killer Bees brands, respectively, in recent years.
Multiple tenders have already been announced by the Ice Bats, as they have signed goaltender Krzysztof Jakubowksi, forwards Kai Belleveau and Dominic Toews, and defenseman Michael Hendry. The Ice Bats also confirmed that they will have the number one overall pick in the NA3HL draft on 4/28.
Phil Oberlin will be behind the bench for Austin this upcoming season, per the Ice Bats website. Oberlin had been announced as leaving the Yellowstone Quake midway through the 2020-21 season.
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