Cottonmouths Week in Review

Published on February 27, 2012 under SPHL (SPHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Columbus Cottonmouths ran their winning streak to four games with a pair of road wins last week on Tuesday night at Huntsville and Friday night at Pensacola. The Snakes begin this week in a deadlock for second place in the SPHL standings with the Knoxville Ice Bears. The schedule for the final month of the season begins this weekend with three games in three days in three different arenas. Columbus plays a home-and-home with the league-leading Augusta RiverHawks on Friday night at the Snake Pit and Saturday night at Augusta before a Sunday afternoon matchup at Fayetteville against the last-place FireAntz. All games will be broadcast on America One Networks with both a video and audio feed, with a nominal fee for each game. 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 107.7 FM.

CURRENT RECORDS AND STATS

Last Week: 2-0-0

Record: 27-13-5, 59 pts (T-2nd, SPHL)

149 GF, 126 GA

19.1% PP (3rd, SPHL); 88.5% PK (1st, SPHL)

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS

2/20 - F Sam Bowles placed on 30-day IR (retroactive to 2/2)

2/20 - D Andrew Krelove returned from South Carolina (ECHL)

2/20 - F Levi Lind returned from Rapid City (CHL)

SPHL STANDINGS

TEAM GP W L OTL PTS WPCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD L-TEN STREAK

xAugusta 45 30 9 6 66 .733 176 131 1046 18-2-3 12-7-3 6-1-3 0-0-1

xKnoxville 45 27 13 5 59 .656 174 142 835 18-4-1 9-9-4 5-3-2 0-0-1

xColumbus 45 27 13 5 59 .656 149 126 992 15-7-2 12-6-3 7-3-0 4-0-0

Pensacola 45 24 18 3 51 .567 151 143 747 13-8-0 11-10-3 5-5-0 2-0-0

Mississippi Surge 46 23 20 3 49 .533 140 139 847 13-8-2 10-12-1 6-4-0 2-0-0

Louisiana 48 22 22 4 48 .500 155 173 794 12-8-2 10-14-2 4-5-1 0-2-0

Huntsville 46 19 23 4 42 .457 135 163 1018 11-9-2 8-14-2 3-6-1 1-0-0

Mississippi R'Kings 43 18 22 3 39 .453 127 137 730 12-10-1 6-12-2 5-5-0 0-2-0

Fayetteville 47 15 27 5 35 .372 149 202 892 8-14-2 7-13-3 3-5-2 2-0-0

x - clinched playoff berth

UPCOMING GAMES AND PROMOTIONS

Friday, March 2 - Augusta at Columbus, 7:30 PM EST (Season Series vs. AUG: 2-1-1)

The Battle of Georgia heats up on Friday night as the Snakes and Augusta RiverHawks tangle in the first of a home-and-home set at the Columbus Civic Center. The Cottonmouths are 2-1-1 so far on the season against the RiverHawks, with all four games decided by a single goal and three of the four matchups going to overtime. The Snakes are currently seven points behind the `Hawks for the top spot in the SPHL standings. The two teams will meet each other five times in the final month of the regular season, including three times at the Snake Pit; in fact, all but one of the Cottonmouths' four remaining home games will be against Augusta. PROMOTIONS: Boomer bobblehead giveaway to the first fans through the gates (while supplies last!) Georgia Lottery Nightone lucky fan will take home $300 in instant win tickets.

Saturday, March 3 - Columbus at Augusta, 7:35 PM EST

The Snakes head east on Saturday night for the road end of the home-and-home set with the RiverHawks. The game will pit the best home record in the SPHL (Augusta is 18-2-3 at the James Brown Arena so far this season) against the league's best road record (Columbus is 12-6-3 away from the Columbus Civic Center on the season to date). The Cottonmouths will head to Augusta one more time in the regular season with a game scheduled there on March 17.

Sunday, March 4 - Columbus at Fayetteville, 4:00 PM EST (Season Series vs. FAY: 5-1-0)

Columbus closes out the busy weekend with a game at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C. against the FireAntz. The `Antz had a big week last week with a pair of wins against the top two teams in the standings other than the Cottonmouths, with home victories on Wednesday over Knoxville and an overtime win on Friday over Augusta. New head coach Todd Bidner is 2-3-0 since taking the reins from Sean Gillam two weeks ago. Fayetteville is still in last place in the SPHL but is just four points behind the Mississippi RiverKings for the eighth and final playoff spot; however, the `Kings have four games in hand on the `Antz.

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Tuesday, February 21 - Columbus 7 at Huntsville 4 (Attendance: 1,927)

The Snakes set a season high for goals in a game and finished a perfect 6-0 season sweep of the Huntsville Havoc on Tuesday night in a 7-4 rout at Propst Arena in Huntsville. Seven different Snakes lit the lamp in the contest: Greg Beller, Jordan Braid, Orrin Hergott, Peter MacDougall, Derek Pallardy, Ryan Pearson, and Mitch Wall. Andrew Loewen picked up the win between the pipes for Columbus with 33 saves on 37 shots, while Mark Sibbald was the losing goaltender for the Havoc, stopping 17 of the 24 shots on goal he faced. Both teams scored a pair of power play goals in the game as Columbus was 2 for 7 with the man advantage and Huntsville was 2 for 9.

Friday, February 24 - Columbus 3 at Pensacola 2 (Attendance: 3,349)

The Cottonmouths picked up their first win of the season at Pensacola on Friday night in a 3-2 victory over the Ice Flyers. As in Tuesday's game, the goal scoring was spread out with Levi Lind, Derek Pallardy, and John Sullivan scoring once each. Ian Vigier was the winning goaltender for the Snakes with 31 saves on 33 shots, while the Ice Flyers' Corey Milan took the loss in net for Pensacola, turning away 26 of the 29 shots on goal he faced. Columbus was 0 for 5 on the power play while the Ice Flyers were 1 for 4 with the man advantage.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

1. F Jordan Braid - Braid scored a goal and two assists in Huntsville on Tuesday night and logged an assist Friday night in Pensacola.

2. F Derek Pallardy - Pallardy scored a goal in each game last week and had an assist Tuesday night.

3. F John Sullivan - Sullivan logged an assist on Tuesday in Huntsville but had two points on Friday in Pensacola, including notching the game-winning goal.

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