Experience will be Cottonmouths guide

COLUMBUS, GA – Based on recent history, some would call the Columbus Cottonmouths 2010-2011 season a success. The team got past the first round of the President’s Cup playoffs for the first time since it won the very first SPHL championship. Unfortunately for Snakes fans, the season ended one game short of the finals at the hands of the cross-state Augusta RiverHawks.
As the 2011-2012 season gets set to begin later this week, Head Coach / General Manager Jerome Bechard is looking at a roster that is laden with returnees. He is hoping that the experience of just missing the finals will spur his troops to take that next step.
The Cottonmouths finished last season with a respectable 29-27 record, good for fourth place in the standings. They did that despite scoring just 169 goals on offense.

Defensively they were the third best team in the SPHL, allowing only 171 goals. They were good at home, posting a 17-11 mark but just 12-16 away from the Columbus Civic Center.
Columbus’ power play accounted for 54 of those 169 goals for, clicking at a success rate of 18.24 percent (54-for-296), but the units allowed a whopping 12 short-handed goals against. The Cottonmouths penalty killing was much more effective, killing off 87.77 percent of the short-hand situations (best in the league) and netting seven man down goals themselves.
For several years, one of the hallmarks of Bechard-coached Columbus teams has been goaltending. This year is no exception as Ian Vigier and Andrew Loewen are both back for another shot at bringing the President’s Cup to Columbus.
Vigier, the longest tenured goalie in the SPHL, is coming off another solid season between the pipes. He went 17-15 a year ago with a 2.79 goals against average, .909 save percentage and two shutouts. Loewen posted a 12-12 record, a 3.02 goal against average and a .909 save percentage.
“Our goaltending is strong. Ian Vigier and Andrew Loewen have to be the best one-two punch in the league. They can both win games,” Bechard said about his net minders. “Andrew has a year under his belt.Vigier is Vigier – he’s calm, cool and collected. He’s probably one of the top (goalies) in the league.”
Bechard doesn’t like to assign a number one or two label to his goalies, feeling that the position is more of a tandem effort. The fact that Vigier and Loewen get along so well gives the coach what he feels to be a great advantage.
“My goaltending situation is different than anybody else. I don’t think anyone plays in the SPHL to be a back-up. I think it’s important to play both guys and have them both ready to go at any time,” Bechard said. “Worst case scenario is someone gets hurt and if you have one guy who plays 45 games (out of 56), the other guy’s probably not going to be ready to carry the load.”
Bechard knows that a team can have the best goalie or goalies in the game but it means nothing with solid defenders in front of the net. The Cottonmouths have several blue liners returning to the lineup for the coming season starting with captain Will Barlow. Barlow was steady, playing in 51 contests and putting up 18 points (2 goals, 16 assists) while finishing with a plus-3 rating
Also back for another season are Bret Tyler (5-27-32), Tom Maldonado (3-8-11 in 29 games) and David Cianfrini (0-5-5 in 30 games).
Two new faces on the blue line who should make an impact are Kevin Kessler, who played in Huntsville last year, and rookie Andrew Krelove.
“We’re building our defense from the back out with the five guys returning from last season,” Bechard said. “Tyler and Maldonado, I expect both of them to be better offensively then they were last year. Cianfrini is a rock. He’s like a tank out there. Then we have the two new guys Kessler and Krelove. All pretty big boys who can move the puck and skate pretty well. We should be good coming out of our end.”
Up front, things are a little unsettled as Jesse Cole (31-21-52) and Sam Bowles (23-23-46)are dinged up and may not start the season on the ice. Longtime veteran Orrin Hergott (14-6-20) is looking to regain his scoring touch while Brett Hammond (13-27-40), Daryl Moore (16-22-38) and Jordan Braid (17-17-34) want to improve on last season’s output.
Bechard noted that last year’s team, in his estimation, lacked very little except when it came to playing a grinding style of play.
“I don’t think we were missing a whole lot last season. I think we lacked a little bit of grit,” Bechard said. “We have grit, I think, with guys coming into their second year (like) Mitch Wall and Braid. I need them to play a little bit of a different game. If we play a little meaner and grittier, I think those guys will excel more and put up more points this season.”
In the hopes of punching up both the scoring and toughness, Bechard brought in two new players, John Sullivan and Morgan James. Sullivan is a skill player who can skate and shoot while James, who logs in at 6-6 and 250 pounds, is an enforcer type with skating and puck handling skills.
“He (James) could be like Mitch Fritz (former Cottonmouths player). It took Fritzy two years to be who he needed to be and ended up in the NHL,” Bechard said. “Does Morgan have that much upside? I don’t know, we’ll see. He still has a lot to learn. He knows his role. He knows that he’s not going to go end to end. Handle the puck, get it to someone that can take it and go crash the net and bang.”
If the team’s play in its two pre-season games is any indication, the eternal excitement and optimism that Cottonmouths fans carry into every season could have a very sweet reward when April rolls around. Contact the author at lee.marion@prohockeynews.com