Snakes Look to Continue Winning Streak with 3 at Home

March 10, 2014 - SPHL (SPHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Columbus Cottonmouths took all three games again this week, pushing their season high winning streak to six games. After defeating the Fayetteville FireAntz on Thursday night in a wild 8-5 game, the Snakes shut out the Bloomington Thunder in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday night, beating them 2-0 and 4-0 respectively. The Cottonmouths clinched a playoff berth in the upcoming SPHL postseason on Saturday night, but six games remain in the regular season schedule. Columbus is mathematically still alive for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. After a road game in Southaven, Miss. against the Mississippi RiverKings on Tuesday, the Snakes return home to face the league-leading Pensacola Ice Flyers on Friday; the Knoxville Ice Bears on Saturday; and the Louisiana IceGators on Sunday in the regular season home finale. All games are 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.

CURRENT RECORDS AND STATS

Last Week: 3-0-0

Record: 25-22-3, 53 pts (7th, SPHL)

168 GF, 152 GA

19.9% PP (2nd, SPHL); 83.8% PK (4th, SPHL)

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS

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SPHL STANDINGS

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

xPensacola 51 33 13 5 71 .696 190 135 953 15-7-4 18-6-1 8-0-2 6-0-0 81 1 4

xLouisiana 51 31 17 3 65 .637 177 163 978 18-10-0 13-7-3 6-4-0 1-0-0 75 1 7

xHuntsville 50 28 18 4 60 .600 169 146 919 19-6-1 9-12-3 5-4-1 0-1-1 72 1 7

xPeoria 50 27 17 6 60 .600 139 132 824 18-6-3 9-11-3 5-3-2 3-0-0 72 1 7

xMississippi RKings 51 27 20 4 58 .569 160 138 920 14-7-4 13-13-0 3-6-1 0-1-0 68 2 7

xKnoxville 49 24 18 7 55 .561 138 135 965 13-10-2 11-8-5 8-0-2 2-0-0 69 2 8

xColumbus 50 25 22 3 53 .530 168 152 1218 14-10-1 11-12-2 8-2-0 6-0-0 65 2 8

Mississippi Surge 51 21 25 5 47 .461 128 171 876 10-12-2 11-13-3 2-5-3 0-5-2 57 6 10

Fayetteville 49 17 27 5 39 .398 125 162 968 10-12-0 7-15-5 2-6-2 0-6-1 53 8 10

Bloomington 50 18 30 2 38 .380 116 176 1291 10-13-0 8-17-2 3-7-0 0-2-0 50 8 10

x - clinched playoff berth; MAX - highest points possible; HI - highest seed possible; LO - lowest seed possible

UPCOMING GAMES AND PROMOTIONS

Tuesday, March 11 - Columbus at Mississippi RiverKings, 8:05 PM EDT (Season Series vs. MRK: 1-2-2)

The Snakes face the Mississippi RiverKings on the road Tuesday night at the Landers Center in the Memphis suburb of Southaven. The Snakes finally solved the 'Kings in the last meeting between the two teams, a 3-0 shutout victory at home on March 1. The RiverKings have five games left on their schedule but they are all within the state of Mississippi as they face the Snakes, the Mississippi Surge, and Knoxville at home and only have to travel to the opposite end of the state in Biloxi for a pair of road games against the Surge the next two Saturdays (March 15 and 22).

Thursday, March 13 - Pensacola at Columbus, 7:30 PM EDT (Season Series vs. PEN: 0-1-0)

That's not a typo above. In a scheduling quirk by the SPHL this season, the Cottonmouths only face their closest rival geographically, the Pensacola Ice Flyers, twice in the regular season. Thursday's game marks the first, last, and only appearance by the Ice Flyers in the Snake Pit during the regular season. The two teams have not faced each other since way back on the opening night of the season on October 25, a game Columbus lost 6-2 with rookie goaltender Jesse Chenard between the pipes for the Cottonmouths in his only appearance for the team. Both clubs are vastly different from that Friday night in October, but the defending champion Ice Flyers have solidified their hold on the top spot in the SPHL standings. Pensacola has opened up a six point lead over second-place Louisiana with a pair of wins against them in the Cajundome this past weekend. The Ice Flyers are also currently building on an SPHL record 17-game streak without a regulation loss (14-0-3 during that span).

Saturday, March 15 - Knoxville at Columbus, 7:30 PM EDT (Season Series vs. KNX: 2-7-0)

The Snakes and Ice Bears tangle for the tenth and final time in the regular season. After going 0-6-0 against Knoxville to start the season, the Cottonmouths have taken two of the last three games in the season series against the Ice Bears. Since the last time they faced Columbus, however, in a 4-1 Cottonmouths win on Valentine's Day at the Snake Pit, Knoxville is riding a double-digit streak of their own without a regulation loss as they are 9-0-2 in their past 11 games.

Sunday, March 16 - Louisiana at Columbus, 4:00 PM EDT (Season Series vs. LOU: 2-2-0)

The two SPHL reptile clubs get together in the regular season home finale for the Snakes as the Louisiana IceGators visit Columbus on Sunday afternoon. It will be the rubber game of the season series as both teams have won twice out of the four matchups so far this season. The IceGators played their final home game on Sunday, defeating the Mississippi RiverKings 7-3. The 'Gators play a pair of games in Fayetteville on Friday and Saturday prior to arriving in Columbus and then travel to Huntsville and Knoxville on March 21 and 22 to close out the regular season.

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Thursday, March 6 - Fayetteville 5 at Columbus 8 (Attendance: 1,402)

Preston Shupe scored a pure hat trick in the third period, including the game-winner, to give the Snakes an 8-5 win in a wild game against the Fayetteville FireAntz last night. Steve Mele scored a pair for Columbus, including an empty-netter in the game's final seconds. Levi Lind and Matt Gingera scored a power play goal each while Will Aide scored the game's first goal even strength. The Snakes poured a season-high 58 shots on the FireAntz goaltenders, with Pete Skoggard stopping 39 of 46 shots and Dustin Carlson stopping all 11 shots on goal he faced. Curtis Martinu picked up his second professional victory with 33 saves on 38 shots. The Cottonmouths were 3 for 5 on the power play while the FireAntz were 2 for 5 with the man advantage.

Friday, March 7 - Bloomington 0 at Columbus 2 (Attendance: 3,239)

Nielsson Arcibal provided all the offense in the game with a pair of goals and goaltender Andrew Loewen set a Columbus hockey record with his fifth shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over Bloomington last night. The victory gives the Cottonmouths a season-high five game winning streak. Steve Mele and Preston Shupe also had two-point nights for the Snakes as they assisted on both of Arcibal's goals. Loewen turned away all 36 Thunder shots on goal for the clean sheet in net for the Cottonmouths, while Bloomington's B.J. O'Brien deserved a better fate as he made 42 saves on 44 shots. Neither team scored on the power play as Columbus was 0 for 4 with the man advantage and the Thunder were 0 for 3 on the power play.

Saturday, March 8 - Bloomington 0 at Columbus 4 (Attendance: 3,385)

Andrew Loewen set an SPHL record with over 191 consecutive minutes of shutout hockey (and counting) as he blanked the Thunder on back-to-back nights with a 4-0 win on Saturday. Nielsson Arcibal, Dan Bremner, Tom Maldonado, and Preston Shupe all scored goals for the Snakes in the win. Loewen repelled all 27 Bloomington shots on goal while the Thunder's B.J. O'Brien also made 27 saves but on 31 Snakes shots. The Snakes were 1 for 6 on the power play while Bloomington finished 0 for 5 with the man advantage.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

1. G Andrew Loewen - Loewen set a Columbus hockey record for shutouts in a single season with his fifth and sixth goose eggs of the season on Friday and Saturday night against Bloomington. He is currently in the midst of an SPHL-record shutout sequence of 191 minutes, seven seconds.

2. F Preston Shupe - Shupe's rare "pure" hat trick (three consecutive goals all scored in the same period) helped Columbus to the win on Thursday night. He also logged an assist on Thursday, had a pair of helpers on Friday, and scored a goal on Saturday.

3. F Nielsson Arcibal - Arcibal had a pair of assists Thursday, a pair of goals Friday, and a goal and an assist each on Saturday.



SPHL Stories from March 10, 2014


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