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Sunday, October 24, 1999

Austin incident may mean tighter security
WPHL officials frown on club after heated confrontation gets out of hand
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

Expect to see tighter security at future Western Professional Hockey League games, especially in Austin.
   League rules restrict coaches and players from interacting with fans in potentially violent situations.
   Someone forgot to inform Arkansas coach Jim Burton.
   Burton bought a one-game suspension for going after Austin fans with a hockey stick last week. In Burton's defense, however, he was provoked.
   Here's what happened: After Arkansas' empty-net goal sealed the GlacierCats' 9-7 win on Oct. 14, a "spirited" fan sitting behind the Arkansas bench crossed the line between rowdiness and stupidity.
   A hometown Austin fan repeatedly reached over the glass behind the visiting Arkansas GlacierCats' bench and tipped over their hockey sticks late in the game, and Burton finally snapped.
   "(The fan) tipped over all the sticks, the equipment manager got hot, told him not to do it again," said Glen Norman, Austin's director of broadcasting and public relations. "He did it again and Burton got hot at him and started taking a stick over the glass at (the fan). Then all of a sudden you have players and fans trying to get at each other. For a while, Arkansas players were trying to tear down the glass to get at the players."
   Burton shared the blame, but he got his punishment. The fan apparently escaped undisciplined.
   This time.
   There was no police or security near the visiting bench, a fact that did not sit well with WPHL officials.
   "Our protocol for teams is that security obviously needs to be in and around what we consider to be the potential problem areas," said Brad Treliving, the WPHL director of hockey operations. "Those areas are the visiting team's bench, the visiting team's penalty bench area and obviously the entrance and exits to the ice surface as well as the visiting team's locker room and officials locker room."
   Treliving said Austin's security was "not as active and aware as it should have been."
   WPHL rules state that coaches and players are to not become involved with fans, "regardless of the scope of the instigation of the fans," Treliving said.
   If the league has its druthers, next time Burton will just pick up the sticks, bite his lip and perhaps offer a sly smile as the perpetrating fan is dragged out of the building by security.
   ICEGIRLS COUNT TOO: If you kept on eye on the attendance figures for the first three regular-season games at Memorial Coliseum, you saw a different number each night. Yet, each game was considered a sellout by the IceRays and league.
   How can this be, one might ask.
   WPHL president Rick Kozuback can explain.
   "It's 'carte blanche' throughout the industry that everybody inside the building is counted in the drop count," Kozuback said. "So when attendance numbers are being circulated, be it in our league or any other, it usually is everybody in attendance."
   Thus, all media, concession venders, cheerleaders, police officers and even players are figured into the total attendance.
   MAXIMUM CAPACITY: With the addition of new seats in the Igloo, IceRays officials were unsure of a maximum capacity for the first three games. Someone finally counted.
   The new maximum capacity - for seated fans - is 3,510, up 728 from last season.
   LUBBOCK LOVES PUCKS: The expansion Lubbock Cotton Kings lead the WPHL in average attendance, attracting 5,608 per game. Lubbock sold out on opening night, cramming 7,209 into its municipal coliseum to watch the Cotton Kings waste Amarillo, 10-2.
   GOALIE BATTLES: Entering Saturday's game, IceRays goalie Eddy Skayzk moved up to the No. 2 ranking for WPHL goalies. The rookie has the second percent goals-against average (1.50) and save percentage (.953). Skayzk trails Central Texas' Jason Carey with a goals-against average of 1.01 and a save percentage of .962. Skayzk, however, is 2-0 while Carey is 1-1.



Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com

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