Columbus Cottonmouths
Encyclopedia
The Columbus Cottonmouths are a professional ice hockey
team based in Columbus, Georgia
. The team is nicknamed the Snakes, and play their home games at the Columbus Civic Center
.
, joining the Macon Whoopee
and Nashville Nighthawks as expansion entries that were originally slated to be in the Southern Hockey League before its demise in the summer of 1996. Along with the Memphis RiverKings
, an established CHL franchise, and the Huntsville Channel Cats
, the SHL champion in 1996 and the lone surviving franchise from that league, Columbus and the other two expansion SHL teams formed the new Eastern Division of the CHL in the 1996-97 season. In 1998, the team won the CHL championship, defeating the Wichita Thunder
in a four-game sweep. The Cottonmouths were in the CHL playoffs each of their five seasons in the league, making it to the league finals in 2000 before losing to Indianapolis and in 2001 before falling to the Oklahoma City Blazers. In the summer of 2001, the CHL merged with the Western Professional Hockey League
and geographic rivalries in Huntsville and Macon were lost, leading the Cottonmouths to seek and obtain entry into the East Coast Hockey League. DVA Sports, composed of owners Salvador Diaz-Verson and Shelby Amos, purchased the defunct Hampton Roads Admirals
ECHL franchise, relocating it to Columbus under the Cottonmouths name and logo.
, bringing with them their longtime Captain Jerome "Boom-Boom" Bechard and Head Coach Bruce Garber. In the three seasons that Columbus spent in the ECHL, they failed to make the playoffs. Mid-way through their second season in the ECHL, Garber, the only coach in team history, resigned. General Manager Phil Roberto took over for the remainder of the season. Their best season in the ECHL was their last. Prior to the 2003-04 season the team announced the signing of their new Coach, former NHL tough guy Brian Curran. They finished with a 37-27-8 record, tied with the Greensboro Generals for the best record by a non-playoff team that season. In April 2004, the Cottonmouths management announced their intentions to move their ECHL franchise to the Bradenton-Sarasota area in Florida. The team, which was later named the Gulf Coast Swords
, would never come to fruition as financial setbacks delayed the construction of their to-be home arena. Finally, after foreclosure on the arena property and numerous delays, the ECHL revoked the Swords franchise in the league in the summer of 2006.
. Led by first year Coach, and Columbus hockey legend Jerome Bechard, the team won the inaugural SPHL championship in April 2005 by first winning a one game playoff against the Fayetteville FireAntz
by a 4-2 score. They next swept the regular season champion Knoxville Ice Bears
to advance to the league finals, which they won against the Macon Trax
with two straight victories, ending with a 3-2 overtime win. The Snakes' victory capped an undefeated postseason in which they won five games without losing a single contest.
In 2006, the Cottonmouths finished with the second-best regular season record in the league but were ousted in the first round of the playoffs two games to one by the Huntsville Havoc
.
In 2007 the Columbus team won the SPHL Commissioner's Cup as the team with the best season record, but was ousted in the first round of playoffs by the Jacksonville Barracudas
, who won three games to the Cottonmouths' one victory.
In 2008, the Cottonmouths ironically relied on the team that would oust them from the playoffs to get them into the playoffs. On the last day of the regular season, the Knoxville Ice Bears
defeated the Huntsville Havoc
to give the Snakes the sixth and final playoff berth, which would pit them against first-place Knoxville. The home team won every contest of the best-of-five series with Columbus recovering from an 0-2 deficit with a pair of home wins before losing the deciding contest in Knoxville. The Snakes' 22-24-6 regular-season record was a Columbus hockey team's first losing record since 2002-03 and the first one by a non-ECHL Cottonmouths squad.
! Year !! GP !! W !! L !! RT !! PTS !! Finish !! Playoffs
|-
| 1996-97 || 66 || 32 || 28 || 6 || 70 || 4th, East || Lost in Quarter Finals
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
| 1997-98 || 70 || 51 || 13 || 6 || 108 || 1st, East || Won Levins Cup
|-
| 1998-99 || 70 || 42 || 21 || 7 || 91 || 2nd, East || Lost in Division Finals
|-bgcolor="#eeeeee"
| 1999-00 || 70 || 39 || 20 || 11 || 89 || 2nd, East || Lost Miron Cup Finals
|-
| 2000-01 || 70 || 41 || 21 || 8 || 90 || 2nd, East || Lost Miron Cup Finals
|-bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|}
Year GP W L RT PTS Finish Playoffs
2001-02
72
24
37
11
59
8th, Southeast
Out of playoffs
2002-03
72
25
39
8
58
7th, Southeast
Out of playoffs
2003-04
72
41
21
8
82
5th, Central
Out of playoffs
Year GP W L OTL PTS Finish Playoffs
2004-05
56
30
26
-
60
5th
Won President's Cup
2005-06
56
34
16
6
74
2nd
Lost Quarter Finals
2006-07
56
36
18
2
74
1st
Lost Quarter Finals
2007-08
52
22
24
6
50
6th
Lost Quarter Finals
2008-09
60
31
22
7
69
2nd
Lost Semi-Finals
2009-10
56
22
27
2
48
6th
Lost First Round
2010-11
56
29
27
0
58
4th
Lost Semi-Finals
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team based in Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
. The team is nicknamed the Snakes, and play their home games at the Columbus Civic Center
Columbus Civic Center
Columbus Civic Center is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Columbus, Georgia, built in 1996.-History:The arena was built in 1996, along with a Softball Complex, to fully complete South Commons...
.
Central Hockey League (CHL): 1996-2001
In 1996, the Columbus Cottonmouths started play in the Central Hockey LeagueCentral Hockey League
The Central Hockey League is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. Its current champions are the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which defeated the Colorado Eagles four games to three in the 2011 playoffs....
, joining the Macon Whoopee
Macon Whoopee
The Macon Whoopee was the name given to two distinct former ice hockey teams, both of which were located in Macon, Georgia. The teams played their home games at the Macon Coliseum....
and Nashville Nighthawks as expansion entries that were originally slated to be in the Southern Hockey League before its demise in the summer of 1996. Along with the Memphis RiverKings
Memphis RiverKings
The Mississippi RiverKings are a professional minor league ice hockey team. The RiverKings are a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League, playing their first nineteen seasons from the 1992–93 season to the 2010–11 season in the Central Hockey League The Mississippi RiverKings...
, an established CHL franchise, and the Huntsville Channel Cats
Huntsville Channel Cats
The Huntsville Channel Cats was a professional ice hockey team based in Huntsville, Alabama. The franchise was a member of several different leagues, the Southern Hockey League , the Central Hockey League and the South East Hockey League...
, the SHL champion in 1996 and the lone surviving franchise from that league, Columbus and the other two expansion SHL teams formed the new Eastern Division of the CHL in the 1996-97 season. In 1998, the team won the CHL championship, defeating the Wichita Thunder
Wichita Thunder
The Wichita Thunder are a minor league hockey team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team plays in the Central Hockey League. From 1992 until January 2010 the Thunder played in the Britt Brown Arena located in the northern Wichita suburb of Park City...
in a four-game sweep. The Cottonmouths were in the CHL playoffs each of their five seasons in the league, making it to the league finals in 2000 before losing to Indianapolis and in 2001 before falling to the Oklahoma City Blazers. In the summer of 2001, the CHL merged with the Western Professional Hockey League
Western Professional Hockey League
The Western Professional Hockey League is a defunct minor professional ice hockey league.It operated in the United States from 1996 to 2001, with teams in the southern United States, mainly Texas. The league started with six teams in the 1996-1997 season and grew to 18 teams in 1999-2000...
and geographic rivalries in Huntsville and Macon were lost, leading the Cottonmouths to seek and obtain entry into the East Coast Hockey League. DVA Sports, composed of owners Salvador Diaz-Verson and Shelby Amos, purchased the defunct Hampton Roads Admirals
Hampton Roads Admirals
The Hampton Roads Admirals were an American professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They played in Norfolk, Virginia at the Norfolk Scope Arena....
ECHL franchise, relocating it to Columbus under the Cottonmouths name and logo.
East Coast Hockey League (ECHL): 2001-2004
From 2001-2004 the Columbus Cottonmouths played in the ECHLECHL
The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...
, bringing with them their longtime Captain Jerome "Boom-Boom" Bechard and Head Coach Bruce Garber. In the three seasons that Columbus spent in the ECHL, they failed to make the playoffs. Mid-way through their second season in the ECHL, Garber, the only coach in team history, resigned. General Manager Phil Roberto took over for the remainder of the season. Their best season in the ECHL was their last. Prior to the 2003-04 season the team announced the signing of their new Coach, former NHL tough guy Brian Curran. They finished with a 37-27-8 record, tied with the Greensboro Generals for the best record by a non-playoff team that season. In April 2004, the Cottonmouths management announced their intentions to move their ECHL franchise to the Bradenton-Sarasota area in Florida. The team, which was later named the Gulf Coast Swords
Gulf Coast Swords
The Gulf Coast Swords were a planned expansion team of the ECHL. Due to years of delays in the construction of Lakewood Arena in Bradenton, Florida, the ECHL terminated the franchise in September 2006, more than two years after the franchise was supposed to begin play...
, would never come to fruition as financial setbacks delayed the construction of their to-be home arena. Finally, after foreclosure on the arena property and numerous delays, the ECHL revoked the Swords franchise in the league in the summer of 2006.
Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL): 2004-present
Since 2004 the Columbus Cottonmouths have played as a member of the Southern Professional Hockey LeagueSouthern Professional Hockey League
The Southern Professional Hockey League is a low-level professional ice hockey league based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with teams located in the southeastern United States.- History :...
. Led by first year Coach, and Columbus hockey legend Jerome Bechard, the team won the inaugural SPHL championship in April 2005 by first winning a one game playoff against the Fayetteville FireAntz
Fayetteville FireAntz
The Fayetteville FireAntz are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. They currently play in the Southern Professional Hockey League . They play their home games in the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum....
by a 4-2 score. They next swept the regular season champion Knoxville Ice Bears
Knoxville Ice Bears
The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. They play their home games at James White Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2006 the Ice Bears defeated the Florida Seals to take the SPHL championship and the...
to advance to the league finals, which they won against the Macon Trax
Macon Trax
The Macon Trax were a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Macon, Georgia. They played in the low minor leagues Atlantic Coast Hockey League , World Hockey Association 2 and Southern Professional Hockey League , playing their home games at the Macon Coliseum...
with two straight victories, ending with a 3-2 overtime win. The Snakes' victory capped an undefeated postseason in which they won five games without losing a single contest.
In 2006, the Cottonmouths finished with the second-best regular season record in the league but were ousted in the first round of the playoffs two games to one by the Huntsville Havoc
Huntsville Havoc
The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League . They play their home games at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Alabama.-History:...
.
In 2007 the Columbus team won the SPHL Commissioner's Cup as the team with the best season record, but was ousted in the first round of playoffs by the Jacksonville Barracudas
Jacksonville Barracudas
The Jacksonville Barracudas were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were established in 2002, and played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League , the World Hockey Association 2 , and the Southern Professional Hockey League , before folding in 2008.They won...
, who won three games to the Cottonmouths' one victory.
In 2008, the Cottonmouths ironically relied on the team that would oust them from the playoffs to get them into the playoffs. On the last day of the regular season, the Knoxville Ice Bears
Knoxville Ice Bears
The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. They play their home games at James White Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2006 the Ice Bears defeated the Florida Seals to take the SPHL championship and the...
defeated the Huntsville Havoc
Huntsville Havoc
The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League . They play their home games at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Alabama.-History:...
to give the Snakes the sixth and final playoff berth, which would pit them against first-place Knoxville. The home team won every contest of the best-of-five series with Columbus recovering from an 0-2 deficit with a pair of home wins before losing the deciding contest in Knoxville. The Snakes' 22-24-6 regular-season record was a Columbus hockey team's first losing record since 2002-03 and the first one by a non-ECHL Cottonmouths squad.
Central Hockey League
|-! Year !! GP !! W !! L !! RT !! PTS !! Finish !! Playoffs
|-
| 1996-97 || 66 || 32 || 28 || 6 || 70 || 4th, East || Lost in Quarter Finals
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
| 1997-98 || 70 || 51 || 13 || 6 || 108 || 1st, East || Won Levins Cup
|-
| 1998-99 || 70 || 42 || 21 || 7 || 91 || 2nd, East || Lost in Division Finals
|-bgcolor="#eeeeee"
| 1999-00 || 70 || 39 || 20 || 11 || 89 || 2nd, East || Lost Miron Cup Finals
|-
| 2000-01 || 70 || 41 || 21 || 8 || 90 || 2nd, East || Lost Miron Cup Finals
|-bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|}
East Coast Hockey League
>Southern Professional Hockey League
>Roster
Updated January 20, 2011| # | Player | Pos | Height | Weight | Date of Birth | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Loewen | G | 195 lb (88.5 kg) | February 20, 1985 (age 26) | ||
| 4 | Bret Tyler Bret Tyler Bret Tyler is an American professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for the Columbus Cottonmouths in the Southern Professional Hockey League.-External links:... |
D | 182 lb (82.6 kg) | June 28, 1984 (age 27) | ||
| 5 | David Cianfrini | D | 195 lb (88.5 kg) | June 12, 1985 (age 26) | Dundas, Ontario Dundas, Ontario Dundas is a formerly independent town and now constituent community in the city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. It's nickname is the Valley Town. The population has been stable for decades at about twenty thousand, largely because it has not annexed rural land from the protected Dundas Valley... |
|
| 6 | Jeff MacPhee | D | 200 lb (90.7 kg) | March 06, 1985 (age 26) | Calgary, Alberta | |
| 7 | Tom Maldonado | D | 195 lb (88.5 kg) | February 24, 1985 (age 26) | ||
| 9 | Daryl Moore | RW | 160 lb (72.6 kg) | March 17, 1983 (age 28) | ||
| 10 | Jordan Braid | LW | 199 lb (90.3 kg) | July 29, 1989 (age 22) | ||
| 11 | Orrin Hergott | LW | 160 lb (72.6 kg) | June 15, 1982 (age 29) | ||
| 14 | Mitch Wall | LW | 209 lb (94.8 kg) | January 25, 1989 (age 23) | ||
| 17 | Brett Hammmond | LW | 195 lb (88.5 kg) | September 08, 1980 (age 31) | ||
| 19 | Levi Lind | C | 205 lb (93 kg) | February 02, 1988 (age 24) | ||
| 22 | Kyle Lundale | D | 210 lb (95.3 kg) | November 01, 1986 (age 25) | ||
| 24 | Sam Bowles | C | 190 lb (86.2 kg) | January 25, 1985 (age 27) | ||
| 26 | Jesse Cole | RW | 200 lb (90.7 kg) | November 18, 1984 (age 27) | ||
| 27 | Matt Kinnunen | RW | 200 lb (90.7 kg) | November 02, 1989 (age 22) | ||
| 28 | Peter MacDougall | G | 195 lb (88.5 kg) | November 11, 1985 (age 26) | Lumsden, Saskatchewan Lumsden, Saskatchewan -History:Settlers first arrived in 1881 and the area came to be commonly known as Happy Hollow. When the Qu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan Railway came through the community in 1889, the name was changed to Lumsden after Hugh Lumsden, a senior engineer with the railroad.The town has been... |
|
| 40 | Ian Vigler | G | 185 lb (83.9 kg) | November 23, 1982 (age 29) | ||
| 42 | Will Barlow | D | 180 lb (81.6 kg) | September 20, 1982 (age 29) | ||
| Staff | Name | Date of Birth |
| Head Coach | Jerome Bechard |
Championships
| Year | League | Trophy |
|---|---|---|
| 2006–2007 | SPHL | Commissioner's Cup (Regular season Champion) |
| 2004–2005 | SPHL | President's Cup |
| 2000–2001 | CHL | Eastern Division Champions |
| 1999–2000 | CHL | Eastern Division Champions |
| 1997–1998 | CHL | William “Bill” Levins Memorial Cup Ray Miron President's Cup The Ray Miron President's Cup goes to the play-off champion of the Central Hockey League. The Ray Miron President's Cup has been awarded to teams since 2002. Prior to 2002, the playoff winner was awarded the Ray Miron Cup. The current cup is named after Ray Miron, one of the league's co-founders... |
| 1997–1998 | CHL | Adams Cup (Regular season Champion) |
| 1997–1998 | CHL | Eastern Division Champions |