The team was named for the Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) that nest under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in the city.

The Ice Bats joined several other WPHL teams in a merger with the Central Hockey League (CHL) in 2001.

The Ice Bats finished first in their division in both the 2001–02 and 2002–03 season, making it to the championship game and losing to the Memphis RiverKings both times.

In May 2008, the team announced it was leaving Austin due to lack of fan support at Chaparral Ice center, which had a maximum seating capacity of 500.

[2] Throughout the franchise's history, the Ice Bats had three play-by-play announcers: Mark "Space Wrangler" Martello, Glen "Sharky" Norman and Brian "Sun" Rea.