Snakes tied for top spot in SPHL

February 6, 2007 - SPHL (SPHL)
Columbus Cottonmouths News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Columbus Cottonmouths pushed their winning streak to six games this past week, emerging victorious in both games of a home-and-home series with Huntsville on Thursday and Friday and winning a home game on Saturday night against Jacksonville. With the wins, the Snakes propelled themselves to first place in the SPHL standings, currently tied with Huntsville at 47 points; however, the Snakes have two games in hand on Huntsville. Columbus also has played five fewer games than third-place Richmond, who sits one point behind the Snakes and Havoc at 46 points, and three games in hand on fourth-place Knoxville as they have 44 points on the season to date. This weekend features another series of three games in three nights for the Snakes as they travel to Florence, S.C. on Thursday night to face the Pee Dee Cyclones, then to Jacksonville on Friday night to take on the Barracudas. The Cottonmouths return home on Saturday night for a game against the Fayetteville FireAntz. All games this week will be aired on ESPN Sports Radio 1580 AM, "The Zone," with Mike Vee calling the action on play-by-play. The games will also be aired free of charge on a streaming Internet broadcast via Live365 and for a nominal charge on a video webcast via Penn Atlantic; links to both streams are available on the Cottonmouths' website at http://www.cottonmouths.com while the video stream, with a schedule of all Cottonmouths games available on video, is available at http://www.thesphl.tv.

CURRENT RECORDS AND STATS

Last Week: 3-0-0

Record: 23-10-1, 47 points (T-1st, SPHL)

146 GF, 115 GA

20.5% PP (2nd, SPHL); 84.9% PK (1st, SPHL)

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS

2/2 - Signed D Tom Wilson to five-game tryout

UPCOMING GAMES AND PROMOTIONS

Thursday, February 8 - Columbus at Pee Dee, 7:10 PM EST (Season Series vs. PD: 3-2-0)

The Cottonmouths head to South Carolina on Thursday night to face the Pee Dee Cyclones. The Cyclones are currently in the SPHL basement but are not to be taken lightly as they feature the league's best power play and the one-two punch of Allan Sirois, who leads the league in points, and Edan Welch, who leads the circuit in assists on the season to date.

Friday, February 9 - Columbus at Jacksonville, 7:05 PM EST (Season Series vs. JAX: 4-0-0)

From Florence, the Snakes will trek down I-95 for a Friday night date with the Jacksonville Barracudas. The Snakes have dominated the season series to date, taking all four games against the 'Cudas so far this season. In the only game between the two teams so far this season in Jacksonville, Columbus scored the first seven goals of the game en route to a 7-2 victory over the Barracudas on January 9.

UPCOMING GAMES AND PROMOTIONS (cont'd)

Saturday, February 10 - Fayetteville at Columbus, 7:30 PM EST (Season Series vs. FAY: 2-2-0)

PROMOTIONS: Thunder Stick Night...first 1,500 fans will receive Thunder Sticks courtesy of Nextel. Use them during the game to help the Snakes extinguish the Antz!

The Cottonmouths face the Fayetteville FireAntz on Saturday night. Both teams have taken two games out of the four so far this season against each other, with Columbus winning the only game against the FireAntz on Snake Pit ice in a 5-2 win on December 21.

COTTONMOUTHS WEEK IN REVIEW

Thursday, February 1 - Columbus 6 at Huntsville 4 (Attendance: 2,708)

The Snakes scored the first three goals of the game in the first 7:03 of the contest on Thursday night and never trailed in a 6-4 win over the Huntsville Havoc on Thursday night. Six different Cottonmouths - Mat Ponto, Tim Green, Tylor Keller, Steve Howard, Craig Stahl, and Mark Prentice - scored goals for Columbus. The five-goal first period chased Huntsville's Matt Carmichael out of net in favor of former Cottomouth Nick Niedert, who did not allow a goal in over 39 minutes of work (the sixth goal scored by Columbus was an empty-netter). Power plays were the story of the night as each team scored three power play goals with Columbus having 13 chances with the man advantage and Huntsville 10. A total of 165 penalty minutes were assessed to both teams. Ryan Senft stopped 19 of 23 shots between the pipes for the Snakes in the winning effort.

Friday, February 2 - Huntsville 6 at Columbus 7 (SO) (Attendance: 3,593)

On Friday night, it was Huntsville who jumped out to a big lead by scoring three first-period goals and holding a 6-2 lead at one point. Unlike Thursday night, however, the team trailing would post a huge comeback. The Snakes scored four unanswered goals in regulation and played a scoreless overtime before Tim Green beat Matt Carmichael with the only goal during the shootout to complete the comeback and give Columbus a 7-6 win over Huntsville. The game was the first shootout of the season for the Cottonmouths. Green was credited with a goal for the shootout game-winner and had another goal in regulation, while Jason Price, Lorne Misita, Tylor Keller, Daryl Moor, and Connor MacDonald lit the lamp once each. Chad Rycroft picked up the win in net, stopping 25 of 31 shots in regulation and stymieing all five Havoc shooters in the shootout. The Snakes again had a multitude of chances on the power play, going 1 for 12 with the man advantage. Huntsville was 3 of 8 on the power play.

Saturday, February 3 - Jacksonville 2 at Columbus 3 (Attendance: 3,526)

Playing in their third game in three nights, the Snakes only put three goals on the scoreboard, but it was enough to pick up the win as they defeated Jacksonville 3-2 for their sixth straight victory. Tim Green, Orrin Hergott, and Ryan Rutz picked up a goal apiece for the Snakes. Ryan Senft stopped 30 of 32 shots on goal for his second win on the week. The power play unit had less work but was more efficient, going 2 for 6 with the man advantage. The penalty kill worked to perfection, stopping all seven of the Barracudas' power play chances.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

1. F Tim Green - Green picked up four goals and three assists on the week and was the only Cottonmouth with at least a goal in each of the three games.

2. D Andrew Dwyer - Dwyer tallied three assists in Friday's game, assisting on the game-tying goal late in the third period.

3. F Lorne Misita - Misita also tallied a three-point game on Friday with a goal and two assists.



SPHL Stories from February 6, 2007


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