Cottonmouths Week in Review/SPHL Playoff Preview

Published on March 28, 2011 under SPHL (SPHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Columbus Cottonmouths split the past weekend of games, falling at Augusta in overtime on Friday night but closing out the regular season with a convincing victory over Louisiana on Saturday. With the win over the IceGators coupled with a Pensacola loss on the last day of the season, the Snakes grabbed the fourth spot in the playoffs, pitting them against Huntsville in a best-of-three series. The series begins Thursday night in Huntsville at the Benton Wilcoxon Memorial Iceplex, as the usual home of the Havoc, the Von Braun Center, was previously booked over the weekend. Game 2 will be at the Snake Pit on Saturday night, and Game 3, if necessary, will be back in Huntsville. Saturday's home game will be broadcast on America One Networks with both a video and audio feed, with a nominal fee for each game. Availability of broadcasts of games 1 and 3 in Huntsville is still to be determined. A free audio-only webcast of the games is also available. 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.

Also, join the Snakes this Tuesday, March 29 at River City Grill on Airport Thruway for dinner from 6:00 PM until 7:30 PM and wish them well as they prepare to hit the road to the President's Cup!

CURRENT RECORDS AND STATS

Last Week: 1-1(0)

Record: 29-27(7), 58 pts (4th, SPHL)

169 GF, 171 GA

18.2% PP (3rd, SPHL); 87.8% PK (1st, SPHL)

SPHL PLAYOFF OUTLOOK (* by game dates/times denotes only if necessary)

(1) Mississippi vs. (6) Knoxville: Games 1/2, Fri/Sat, April 1/2, 8:05 PM EDT @ MIS; Games 3/4*, Fri/Sat, April 8/9, 7:35 PM EDT @ KNX, Game 5*, Sun, April 10, 8:05 PM EDT @ MIS (Season Series: MIS won 3-2)

The Mississippi Surge, who claimed their second regular-season championship in as many years in the league, face the Knoxville Ice Bears, who have four regular-season titles under their belt. Knoxville enters the playoffs seeded the lowest ever in their seven years in the SPHL after finishing below .500 for the first time ever in the SPHL as well. This looks to be an offensive series between the two teams as five of the top 12 scorers in the league this year either wore Knoxville or Mississippi sweaters: Rob Sich (35G, 31A), Frank Furdero (21G, 42A), and Emery Olauson (29G, 28A) of the Ice Bears and Mike Richard (18G, 44A) and Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn (24G, 33A) from the Surge. The Surge also regained forward Matt Zultek late this month after serving a 10-game suspension, whose 32 goals led the team and was fifth-best in the league; and Rusty Masters, who scored 49 points (21G, 28A) in just 41 games as he spent six weeks with the other professional hockey team from Mississippi, the Mississippi RiverKings in the Central Hockey League. Both teams also had recent goaltending shakeups. Knoxville waived former SPHL Goaltender of the Year Andrew Gallant last week, signing former Pensacola and Fayetteville goaltender Thomas Lee in his place. In Mississippi, an injury felled number one goaltender Kyle McNulty earlier this month, and the Surge called on last year's SPHL Goaltender of the Year, Bill Zaniboni, to take his place. All Zaniboni would do is go a perfect 7-0 in net with a gaudy 1.68 goals-against average and .942 save percentage. In Knoxville, Bryan Hince is projected to be the go-to netminder as he is 15-14 with a 2.86 GAA and a .917 save percentage.

(2) Augusta vs. (5) Pensacola: Game 1, Fri, April 1, 7:35 PM EDT @ AUG; Game 2, Sat, April 2, 8:05 PM EDT @ PEN; Game 3*, Sun, April 3, 7:35 PM EDT @ AUG (Season Series: PEN won 3-2)

The first-year Augusta RiverHawks, who had an SPHL season-best 11 game winning streak snapped in their last game of the season Saturday night, will face the Pensacola Ice Flyers, who spent time atop the league standings earlier this season but stumbled down the stretch and took the fifth seed. While the story in the Mississippi-Knoxville series is offense, the story in the Hawks and Flyers matchup is the sheer amount of youth on both benches. The rookies for both squads have been highly successful this season, led by Neil Graham in Augusta and Chris Wilson in Pensacola. Graham's 54 points (24G, 30A) are good for second-best among all rookies in the SPHL, while Wilson far and away claimed the rookie scoring title with 71 points off 39 goals and 32 assists; in fact, Wilson's 39 goals was tops in the entire SPHL. Wilson's 32 assists are second among rookies, second only to Augusta's Branden Kosolofsky's 33. Five of the top six rookie scorers in the league hail from either Augusta or Pensacola.

(3) Huntsville vs. (4) Columbus: Game 1, Thu, March 31, 8:30 PM EDT @ HSV; Game 2, Sat, April 2, 7:30 PM EDT @ COL; Game 3*, Sun, April 3, 6:00 PM EDT @ HSV (Season Series: HSV won 5-4)

While the Knoxville-Mississippi and Augusta-Pensacola series feature some prolific scorers, there are few to be found in the matchup between the Snakes and Havoc. Both teams are rooted in a defense-first philosophy and it shows in the stats: Huntsville's 168 goals scored were the fewest on the season, with Columbus just one ahead with 169. Of the nine games played against each other this year, only once - a wild 6-4 game on March 17 - did the losing team score more than two goals, and five of the nine times, the losing team was either shut out or scored only once. The teams rank second and third in goals against on the season, with Huntsville allowing just 158 goals all season, one more than first-place Mississippi, and Columbus allowing 171. Only three players - Glenn Detulleo and Mike McDonald from Huntsville and the Snakes' Jesse Cole - finished among the top 20 in the SPHL in scoring. However, all four goaltenders on both teams' rosters finished in the top 10 in goals-against average on the season, with Mark Sibbald of Huntsville second (2.51), the Snakes' Ian Vigier sixth (2.79), Dan McWhinney of the Havoc seventh (2.83), and Columbus's Andrew Loewen tenth (3.02).

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Friday, March 25 - Columbus 3 at Augusta 4 (OT) (Attendance: 2,391)

The Snakes took Augusta to overtime Friday night on the road, but the RiverHawks scored a goal in the first minute of overtime to take a 4-3 victory over Columbus. Jordan Braid scored twice with Sam Bowles adding a marker as well. Ian Vigier was the goaltender in net for the Snakes, stopping 27 of 31 shots in the loss, while Peter Skoggard made 33 saves on 36 shots on goal in the win for Augusta. The Snakes were 2 for 7 on the power play while holding the RiverHawks scoreless in five chances with the man advantage.

Saturday, March 26 - Louisiana 3 at Columbus 6 (Attendance: 3,265)

Jesse Cole's hat trick paced the Snakes in a 6-3 victory over the Louisiana IceGators in the regular season finale. Brett Hammond and Levi Lind also lit the lamp once each, with Jordan Braid adding an empty-netter in the game's final minutes as well. Andrew Loewen stopped 23 of 26 shots in the winning effort for Columbus, while Mike Brown of Louisiana had 37 saves on 42 shots on goal. Columbus was 1 for 5 on the power play while Louisiana was 0 for 3.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

1. F Jesse Cole - Cole's hat trick led the Snakes to victory on Saturday night.

2. F Jordan Braid - Braid scored twice on Friday and added an empty-net tally on Saturday.

3. F Brett Hammond - Hammond had a four-point night Saturday night, scoring once and assisting on all three of Jesse Cole's goals on the night.



SPHL Stories from March 28, 2011


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