Snakes And Surge Split, Pivotal Game 3 Thursday In Columbus

Published on April 5, 2010 under SPHL (SPHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Columbus Cottonmouths and Mississippi Surge tangled for a pair of games last week in the opening round of the 2010 SPHL playoffs. While the Surge kept their home dominance over Columbus alive with a 5-2 win on Friday, the Cottonmouths took a 5-4 overtime thriller on Saturday in the Snake Pit to knot the best-of-five series at one game apiece. A crucial Game 3 will be played in the Columbus Civic Center on Thursday night, with Game 4 and Game 5 (if necessary) back in Biloxi on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively. The Snakes-Surge series winner will face the winner of the Huntsville-Knoxville series this week in the SPHL championship series to begin next week. All games will be broadcast on B2 Networks with both a video and audio feed, with a nominal fee for each game. Details can be found at www.cottonmouths.com. In addition, road games are now broadcast locally in the Columbus area on 106.9 WRCG-FM.

SPHL PLAYOFF OUTLOOK

(2) Huntsville vs. (4) Knoxville (Season Series. HSV won 7-5-0)

Game 1: Wed, 4/7, 8:35 PM EDT in HSV; Game 2: Fri, 4/9, 7:35 PM EDT in KNX; Game 3 (if needed): Sat, 4/10, 8:35 PM EDT in HSV

The Huntsville Havoc and Knoxville Ice Bears will square off in a best-of-three series to determine who will face the Columbus-Mississippi series winner in the SPHL finals. Both teams took somewhat similar paths to face each other: both teams recovered from Game 1 losses to win games 2 and 3 against their respective opponents, with both Game 3 outcomes being decided in overtime. Huntsville rebounded from a 3-1 Game 1 loss on home ice to Pensacola with a dominating 5-1 performance in Game 2 on the road against the Ice Flyers, then took a 5-4 overtime decision in Game 3 on Sunday afternoon. Knoxville was shellacked 7-1 in a Game 1 loss in Fayetteville, then engaged in the longest game in SPHL history in Game 2 at home, finally taking a 6-5 victory over the FireAntz. The Ice Bears then clawed back from a 3-0 deficit in Game 3 to tie the game in regulation and scored the overtime game-winner to shock the FireAntz on the road on Sunday. The Havoc and Ice Bears are quite familiar with each other, having faced each other 12 times in the regular season, with Huntsville winning seven of those contests. Four Havoc players have 10 or more points against Knoxville in the season series, led by Mike MacDonald's 13-point performance off six goals and seven assists. Justin Rohr, former Ice Bear Mike Carter, and captain Travis Kauffeldt round out the double-digit scorers against the Ice Bears for Huntsville. Mark Sibbald was the goaltender of record for four of the Havoc's seven wins against Knoxville, while Dan McWhinney, who was between the pipes for all of the Pensacola series, went 3-3-0 against the Ice Bears in the regular season. On the Knoxville side of the ledger, Kevin Swider has 26 points (7G, 19A) against the Havoc, with a whopping seven-assist performance in a March 26 victory over Huntsville in Knoxville. Donald Melnyk, B.J. Pelkey, and Tim Vitek are the other three Ice Bears with more than 10 points on the season against the Havoc. Andrew Gallant is 4-3-2 against Huntsville on the season, with Chad Collins facing the Havoc once and getting the win in that contest.

(1) Mississippi vs. (6) Columbus (Series Tied 1-1)

Game 3: Thu, 4/8, 7:30 PM EDT in COL; Games 4/5 (if needed): Fri/Sat, 4/9-10, 8:05 PM EDT in MIS

The series between the Cottonmouths and Surge continues with Game 3 on Thursday night in Columbus, with games 4 and 5 (if necessary) at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Friday and Saturday night. For the Cottonmouths to advance to the finals, they will have to reverse their trend of being winless in Mississippi; Columbus is 0-5-0 on the season in Biloxi, including Friday night's 5-2 loss in Game 1 of the playoffs. The Surge have only won one game in Columbus; however, each of their losses (including Saturday's overtime loss to the Snakes in Game 2) have come in overtime or a shootout.

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Friday, April 2 - Columbus 2 at Mississippi 5 (Attendance: 2,630)

The Cottonmouths kept things close through most of the contest but two late third-period goals scored 91 seconds apart entrenched the Surge to a Game 1 victory on Friday night by a 5-2 margin. Levi Lind and Orrin Hergott scored the goals for the Snakes, both of them via the power play. Special teams were excellent for the Snakes as they were 2 for 4 on the power play and held the Surge scoreless in their five chances with the man advantage. Ian Vigier stopped 22 of 27 shots on goal in the losing effort in net for Columbus, while Mississippi's Bill Zaniboni turned away 36 of the 38 shots on goal he faced in the contest for the win.

Saturday, April 3 - Mississippi 4 at Columbus 5 (OT) (Attendance: 1,762)

Columbus staked themselves to a 3-1 first period lead, but Mississippi surged back with three goals to carry a one-goal lead until the game's final 12 seconds. With just twelve ticks on the clock separating Columbus from a 2-0 series hole, Daryl Moore found the back of the net past Bill Zaniboni to tie the game for Columbus. Levi Lind's power play marker in the final minute of the first overtime session gave Columbus the win. Will Barlow, Sam Bowles, and Tim Green notched the other goals for Columbus. The Snakes were 1 for 3 on the power play while Mississippi was 2 for 9 with the man advantage. Ian Vigier had 45 saves on 49 shots in the winning effort, while Zaniboni made 37 saves on 42 shots for the Surge in net.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

1. F Levi Lind - Lind scored a goal on Friday and notched the overtime game-winner on Saturday.

2. F Daryl Moore - Moore's game-tying goal on Saturday provided the Snakes the chance to win in overtime.

3. D Kyle Lundale - Lundale assisted on Levi Lind's OT game-winner on Saturday and had two assists on Friday.

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