NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Snakes And Bears To Tangle In Best-Of-Five First Round

March 24, 2008 - SPHL (SPHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Columbus Cottonmouths fell to the Huntsville Havoc at the Snake Pit on Friday night in the final regular-season game for the Snakes. With the loss, Columbus's playoff fate was not decided until Saturday, when Knoxville defeated Huntsville, eliminating the Havoc from playoff contention. It was the SPHL's own brand of March Madness as for the first time in league history, the composition of teams in the playoffs was not decided until the last night of the regular season. While Huntsville's loss kept them in last place in the league, Twin City defeated Richmond, vaulting them over the Cottonmouths for the fifth seed in the President's Cup playoffs. As the sixth seed, the Snakes will face the Knoxville Ice Bears in a best-of-five series, with the winner receiving an automatic berth in the President's Cup finals against one of four teams that will run the gauntlet of two separate three-game series. Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-five series between the Snakes and Ice Bears will be Friday and Saturday, respectively, at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. Both games will start at 7:35 PM EDT. The games will be broadcast via Penn Atlantic with both a video and audio feed. There is a nominal fee associated with each game; details can be found at www.thesphl.tv. In addition, the game will be aired live on WEAM 1580 AM "The Zone" in the Columbus area with Mike Vee providing the play-by-play action, Dana Barker providing color commentary, and a free simulcast of the radio broadcast on the Internet via Live365. Links to the Internet broadcast are available on the Cottonmouths' homepage, www.cottonmouths.com. CURRENT RECORDS AND STATS

Last Week: 0-1-0

Record: 22-24-6, 50 points (6th Place, SPHL)

168 GF, 186 GA

18.9% PP (5th, SPHL); 82.7% PK (2nd, SPHL)

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS

none

SPHL PLAYOFF OUTLOOK

Knoxville (1) vs. Columbus (6) (Season Series: KNX won 7-3-0)

Games 1 & 2 @ KNX, Fri/Sat, March 28/29, 7:35 PM EDT (both nights)

Games 3 & 4 (if necessary) @ COL, Fri/Sun, April 4/6, 7:30 PM EDT (Fri)/4:00 PM EDT (Sun)

Game 5 (if necessary) @ KNX, Tue, April 8, 7:35 PM EDT

The Ice Bears and Cottonmouths meet for the first time since the 2004-05 season in the playoffs. The newly minted Coffey Trophy champions in Knoxville will play the Snakes in the first two games of the best-of-five playoff series this weekend, with the winner punching their ticket to the President's Cup finals. Revenge is on both teams' minds. The Snakes look to play the role of spoiler this season being in the opposite position in the playoffs as last year, when top-seeded Columbus was upset by sixth-place Jacksonville three games to one in their playoff series. For Knoxville, the Ice Bears look to oust the Snakes from the playoffs in the same way Columbus bumped Knoxville from the postseason in the SPHL's inaugural 2004-05 season. As expected, Kevin Swider leads all Knoxville scorers against Columbus with 11 points (6G, 5A) in nine games against Columbus, tied with Matt Pierce's offensive output in the season series as well (6G, 5A, 11P, 10 games played). On the other side of the ledger, Tim Green leads all Snakes in the season series against the

Ice Bears with 11 points as well (3G, 8A). Lorne Misita (5G, 5A) and Ryan Rutz (4G, 6A) have also scored double-digits in the season series versus Knoxville. Between the pipes, Ian Vigier has played seven of the ten games of the series against Knoxville with a 2-3-2 record, 3.10 goals-against average, and a .919 save percentage. Nathan Heinen has played three games against Knoxville and is 1-2-0, but with the only win being a shutout, his GAA of 3.02 is slightly better than Vigier's. Heinen has a .882 save percentage in the three games against the Ice Bears as well. Three different Knoxville goaltenders have faced the Snakes this season, with the projected starter in the playoffs, Kirk Irving, having a perfect 3-0-0 record against Columbus with a 2.27 GAA and a .920 save percentage.

Jacksonville (2) vs. Twin City (5) (Season Series: JAX won 7-2-0)

Game 1 @ JAX, Fri, March 28, 7:35 PM EDT

Game 2 @ TC, Sun, March 30, 4:30 PM EDT

Game 3 @ JAX, Wed, April 2, 8:05 PM EDT (if necessary)

The league runners-up in Jacksonville will take on Twin City in a best-of-three first round. The ‘Cudas dominated the regular season series between the two teams, taking seven of nine wins. Khalil Thomas (8G, 13A), Chris Rebernik (5G, 11A), and Rob Colangelo (4G, 6A) were Jacksonville's scoring leaders against the Cyclones, while Allan Sirois (4G, 7A), Daryl Moore (6G, 4A), and Jason Cassells (4G, 6A) were Twin City's leaders against the Barracudas. Ryan Person went 4-2-0 against the Cyclones with a 3.88 GAA and .878 save percentage, while all-SPHL first team goaltender Tim Haun was 2-0-0 in three games with a 2.49 GAA and .903 save percentage. Kevin Druce was 1-3-1 with a 3.65 GAA and a .887 save percentage in six games played against Jacksonville.

Fayetteville (3) vs. Richmond (4) (Season Series: FAY won 7-2-3)

Game 1 @ FAY, Fri, March 28, 7:35 PM EDT

Game 2 @ RMD, Sat, March 29, 7:35 PM EDT

Game 3 @ FAY, Tue, April 1, 7:35 PM EDT (if necessary)

The Fayetteville FireAntz went down to the wire to secure home-ice advantage in their best-of-three first round against the Richmond Renegades. It is perhaps the most evenly-matched series between two first-round opponents as three of the 12 games against the two squads were decided in overtime or a shootout. Dan Vandermeer has 16 points (3G, 13A) and Andre Gill has 15 (7G, 8A) to lead all Richmond scorers against Fayetteville. The ‘Antz have five current players with ten or more points scored in the season series with the Renegades. Ryan Senft is 4-6-0 against Fayetteville in 11 games played with a 3.62 GAA and a .898 save percentage. Chad Collins leads Fayetteville between the pipes against Richmond with a 2.20 GAA and .929 save percentage, while Kyle Knectel is 3-1-3 in seven games against the ‘Gades with a 3.19 GAA and .911 save percentage.

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Friday, March 21 - Huntsville 5 at Columbus 2 (Attendance: 4,759)

Orrin Hergott and Andrew Dwyer both scored on the power play to give the Snakes a 2-1 lead in the first minute of the second period on Friday night, but the Havoc scored four unanswered goals including two empty-netters to take a 5-2 win over Columbus. Tim Green also had two assists on the night. Ian Vigier stopped 26 of 29 shots in the loss between the pipes for the Cottonmouths. Columbus was 2 for 4 on the power play while Huntsville was 0 for 8.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

1. F Tim Green - Green assisted on both power play goals on Friday night.

2. F Orrin Hergott - Hergott scored a goal and assist Friday.

3. D Andrew Dwyer - Dwyer scored a power play goal on Friday against Huntsville. Of Dwyer's 17 points on the season, seven of them came against the Havoc.

• Discuss this story on the SPHL message board...

SPHL Stories from March 24, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Columbus Cottonmouths Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central