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Snakes close out season with home win

April 5, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Columbus Cottonmouths were eliminated from playoff contention on Wednesday morning in a wacky 4-3 loss in a shootout at the hands of the Mississippi Sea Wolves. The Snakes finished the week 1-2-1, including losses Thursday in Augusta and Friday in Gwinnett, and a home win in the season finale Saturday against playoff-bound Pensacola. The Snakes this season set Columbus ECHL records for most wins (37) and standing points (82) in a season and also finished the season with the league's best penalty kill, which performed at a 87.6% efficiency. The Snakes were tied with Greensboro as the two ECHL teams with the highest point total not to make the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Despite not making the playoffs, the Snakes had the third-stingiest defense in the Central Division, only allowing 197 goals all season. Goaltender Jason Tapp finished in a five-way tie for the ECHL lead this season in shutouts with five and was tenth in the league with a 2.40 goals-against average. CURRENT RECORDS AND STATS
Last Week: 1-2-1
Record: 37-27-8 (5th place, Central Division)
214 GF, 197 GA
14.2% PP (27th, ECHL); 87.6% PK (1st, ECHL)

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS
3/28 – G Simon Lajeunesse placed on 7-day IR
3/30 – G Olivier Michaud assigned by Hamilton (AHL)
3/30 – F Dan Tudin placed on 30-day IR
3/31 – G Olivier Michaud recalled to Hamilton (AHL)
3/31 – G Joel Martin removed from 7-day IR

UPCOMING GAMES
End of 2003-04 season

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Tuesday/Wednesday, March 30/31 – Mississippi 4 at Columbus 3 (SO)

In a wild game punctuated in between by a 14-hour delay due to poor ice conditions, Mississippi eliminated the Cottonmouths from playoff contention with a 4-3 shootout win in the Snake Pit. In the two periods played on Tuesday night, Columbus jumped out to a 3-2 lead with goals scored by Mitch Fritz, Ryan Risidore, and Dan Tessier, with both Risidore and Tessier's scores coming on the power play. In the third period, which began on

Wednesday morning at 11 AM, the Sea Wolves scored the tying goal late despit being outshot by the Cottonmouths 20-10 in the period and 53-31 overall to that point. After a scoreless overtime, the Sea Wolves solved goaltender Olivier Michaud, fresh from an assignment from Hamilton, twice in the shootout, as goaltender Greg Gardner only allowed one goal in the round of penalty shooters. Michaud stopped 30 of 33 in regulation for the Snakes, and Sean Matile stopped 30 of 33 as well for Mississippi in Tuesday night's action. Matile was relieved by Gardner Wednesday morning, who stopped all 23 shots on goal thrown his way in the third period and overtime. The Snakes finished 2 for 4 on the power play while the Sea Wolves were 2 for 5 with the man advantage.

Thursday, April 1 – Columbus 0 at Augusta 4 Goaltender Jason Saal gave the hometown Augusta Lynx fans a show with his fifth shutout of the season Thursday night, tying him for the league lead with Jason Tapp in a 4-0 Lynx victory. Saal stopped all 30 Columbus shots on goal. Joel Martin got the start in goal for the Snakes and took the loss, stopping 24 of 28. Jason Tapp saw 5:15 of action at the end of the second period, saving the only shot on goal he faced. The Snakes were held scoreless in their three power play chances while Augusta finished 1 of 3 on the power play.

Friday, April 2 – Columbus 1 at Gwinnett 3 J.F. Plourde broke a five-plus period scoring drought for the Snakes, scoring the only goal in Friday night's 3-1 loss to the Gwinnett Gladiators at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Jason Tapp stopped 34 of 37 in net for the Snakes, while Trevor Prior made 32 saves on 35 shots for Gwinnett. The Gladiators were 0 for 5 on the power play while Columbus finished 0 for 3 with the man advantage.

Saturday, April 3 – Pensacola 2 at Columbus 3 After a scoreless first period, the Cottonmouths jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the Ice Pilots in the second frame of Saturday night's season finale at the Snake Pit. Kenton Smith, John Morlang, and Tomas Micka all scored goals for Columbus. A Pensacola goal with four seconds left in the second period broke Jason Tapp's attempt at coming out on top in a logjam of five goaltenders tied for the league lead with five shutouts, and a second Ice Pilot goal in the third period made things interesting in the final stanza. However, the Snakes dominated the Ice Pilots on the shot charts, outshooting Pensacola 56-20. Tapp stopped 18 of 20 in the contest, and Evgeny Konstantinov got the starting nod for Pensacola in the place of Brian Eklund, who set ECHL records this season for both minutes played and saves and tied the ECHL record with 38 wins on the year. Konstantinov stopped 53 of 56 despite being saddled with the loss for the Ice Pilots. Pensacola scored on their lone power play chance while the Snakes were 0 for 2.

THREE STARS OF THE SEASON

1. Jason Tapp, G – Tapp, who was first loaned to the Snakes from Knoxville of the South East Hockey League on January 6, earned his keep with a 168:55 shutout sequence to begin his Cottonmouths career, setting a Columbus hockey record. Tapp would go on to post five shutouts this season, putting him in the ECHL record books with the second-most shutouts in one season.

2. Colin Pepperall, C – Only one of three Cottonmouths to play in all 72 games this season (Christian Larrivee and Kenton Smith are the other two), Pepperall led all Snakes with 40 assists and 58 total points on the season. Serving as captain after Peter Hogan was recalled to Toronto of the AHL, Pepperall is the only Columbus player with a Kelly Cup ring, winning it with the Greenville Grrrowl in 2002.

3. Carlyle Lewis, F – Lewis is only one of two Cottonmouths (along with Mitch Fritz, arguably the most improved Cottonmouth this season) to have played in Columbus all three seasons of the Snakes' ECHL existence. Lewis's 21 goals on the season led all Cottonmouths and marked a personal career high.

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