Oh Brother!
The Austin Ice Bats sign enforcer Dallas Anderson, the sibling of the franchise's
all-time penalty leader.
10.06.04 - Taking a 'big' step forward to improve team toughness,
the Austin Ice Bats have signed Dallas Anderson to a contract for the 2004-05
Central Hockey League season.
Anderson, a huge 6-7,
225-pound forward, was assigned to Austin recently by the Houston Aeros,
the Ice Bats' American Hockey League affiliate.
"Dallas Anderson
will be an important part of our team," said Jeff Greenlaw, Ice Bats
Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations. "He's a big power
forward who will stand in front of the net on the power play, has good offensive
skill, and obviously plays with a great deal of toughness."
Anderson actually attended
training camp with the Ice Bats in 1998 as a 19-year old.
After his subsequent
release, he returned to the Canadian Tier II junior level to improve his
game while piling up successive 365-plus penalty-minute seasons in the Manitoba
Junior League.
Dallas split his rookie
pro season in 2000-01 with Corpus Christi, then of the Western Professional
League and the Tulsa Oilers of the CHL.
In the two seasons
that followed, he developed into one of the league's top enforcers
with the Oilers.
Anderson led the league
with 378 penalty minutes in 2001-02, and placed third with 365 minutes the
following season.
Last season, Anderson
spent time with Oilers of a different kind, attending training camp with
the NHL's Edmonton Oilers. He then played eight games with Flint (Mich.)
in the United League, before sidelined for the season due to injury.
Greenlaw said Anderson,
a 25-year-old from Bowsman, Manitoba, has developed greatly since trying
to break into the pros with Austin in 1998.
"There's
no comparison, he's a completely different individual," Greenlaw
said. "He's grown and filled out. He's a good skater for
a big guy; he's got good hands and can put the puck in the net. He
had an opportunity to evaluate his game in NHL camp last year, and had a
good camp in Houston this year."
Anderson follows in
the footsteps of his older brother, Ryan, a six-year fan favorite with the
Ice Bats from 1996 to 2002. Ryan Anderson remains the Ice Bats' career
leader in games played (389) and penalty minutes (1,283).
The elder Anderson
will soon get a chance to see his younger brother in Ice Bats colors, having
retired as a player and relocated back to Austin.
