COLUMBUS, GA – With three wins in three games over last weekend, the Columbus Cottonmouths were able to accomplish a couple of things. First, Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the first place Augusta RiverHawks gave Columbus ownership of the Peach Cup as winner of the season series between the SPHL’s two Georgia franchises. More importantly, however, may have been the fact that Columbus locked up the second seed in the upcoming President’s Cup playoffs.
The Cottonmouths don’t have time to celebrate either accomplishment as they begin their first round best-of-three series against the seventh-seeded Louisiana IceGators Tuesday night at the Cajundome in Lafayette. Because of building availability, the IceGators are hosting game one with game two set for Thursday in Columbus. A potential winner-take-all game three will be played in Columbus on Sunday, April 1st at 4 pm.
“Louisiana is a bit of a run-and-gun team. Our biggest goal is to eliminate turnovers. That’s the key in the playoffs,” Columbus coach Jerome Bechard said. “We’ve got to play our game, hit, be disciplined and stay out of the box. We have to keep doing what we‘ve been doing – discipline, discipline, discipline”
This season has been a season of change for Columbus. It started in the off-season when G.M./Head Coach Jerome Bechard brought in former Cottonmouths defenseman and tough guy Brad Prefontaine to work with the defensive corps. The pair were teammates on the 1998 CHL Levins Cup winning squad, bringing that experience that has established itself in the locker room.
“Looking back on that championship, you almost get that same feeling with these guys. When you go out to play, you always get the feeling you’re going to win. You’ve got that swagger on the road,” Prefontaine said. “With me and Jerome both being able to draw on our championship experience from the past, I’m sure there will be situations in the playoffs we’ll be able to give some of the newer guys advice.”
Defenseman Dave Cianfrini said that having a dedicated coach for the blue liners has had an impact from day one.
“I think having a full-time defensive coach really helped,” he said. “Giving us tips during the game goes a long way.”
As the year went on, some of Bechard’s work off the ice paid dividends. Adding Kevin Kessler and rookie Andrew Krelove, who was named to the SPHL All Rookie team, solidified the back line. Midway through the season, he added enforcer Daniel Amesbury who made an impact with three fights in his first game followed by two goals and a scrap in his home debut. Amesbury’s presence went a long way to helping the offense get comfortable along with pumping up the home crowd.
“It’s just nice knowing that you’re going to have that room. If someone from the other team steps out of line, he’s going to pay for it,” Cianfrini said about Amesbury. “It definitely helps when the fans get into it. We notice the energy in the building’s changed when he steps up and gets going with a fight or two.”
Goalies Ian Vigier and Andrew Loewen have been the beneficiaries of the improved defensive play. Vigier, who posted 21 wins during the regular season, said that having the guys playing hard in the defensive zone has helped at the other end as well.
“We’ve had the top one thru six defensemen out in front of me all year. It starts with them and translates to the offense,” he said. “In the past we’ve had trouble scoring goals. The best defense is a good offense.”
2011-2012 has also been a banner year for the Louisiana IceGators. Marked by coaching instability for the first year and a half of the team’s time in the SPHL, Kevin Kaminski started righting the ship late last year. Ownership brought in Louis Dumont as general manager during the off-season and paired up with Kaminski has built a young team that can be dangerous.
The turnaround has led to the IceGators’ first ever appearance in the SPHL playoffs, something that the fans who attend games at the raucous Cajundome have been waiting for.
All-Rookie team member Brayden Metz and fellow newbie Josh Boyd have become a talented set of players who have bright futures ahead of them. Veterans Jay Hill, Robert Short and Shawn McNeil have taken the younger players under their wing, teaching them the pro game.
Dan Earles brings plenty of SPHL experience to the Louisiana net. He will see the bulk of the action between the pipes.
Columbus and Louisiana played each other five times during the 2011-2012 regular season with three on the contests in Lafayette. All of the contests were tightly played with neither team winning a game by more than two goals. After the IceGators won the first two meetings, the Cottonmouths won the final three, including a thrilling 5-4 overtime win in late January.
The series was marked by very physical play. The teams combined for over 200 penalty minutes (116 for Columbus, 102 for Louisiana). Columbus took advantage of the man advantage situations it had, scoring six goals in 19 chances which translates to a 31.6 percent success rate. The IceGators didn’t fare as well, only scoring twice in 25 attempts against the Cottonmouths’ stingy penalty killers.
Offensively, each team scored 18 goals against the other with the middle stanza accounting for eight tallies for both. Veteran Orrin Hergott and Derek Pallardy led Columbus against Louisiana, each putting up two goals and six points. Rookie Krelove was right on their heels with five points against the IceGators. In net, Vigier was 1-1 while Loewen went 2-1 but both had goals against averages over three when playing Louisiana.
Forward August Aiken was the IceGator with the most success against Columbus, netting three goals and eight points. Short picked up six points while Metz and Hill each had five points against the Cottonmouths. Earles faced Columbus three times in the regular season, picking up two wins.
Columbus comes into the series having won seven of its last ten games while Louisiana was 2-7-1 down the stretch. That however was the regular season; now that the playoffs are here, anything can happen. Both teams are confident that if they focus on what they do best, they will move on to the next round.
“We can’t control what the other team’s going to do,” Columbus captain Will Barlow said. “If we work hard and play our game, there’s nobody that can beat us.”
Editor’s Pick: With a season series so evenly played, whichever team can get hot and stay hot will win. Louisiana is new to the post-season so nerves could play a factor. Columbus has shown it can dominate on special teams, especially the penalty kill. Vigier and Loewen are arguably the best goaltending tandem in the SPHL so if the IceGators are to have any success, they will need their offense to be spot on. In the end, the Cottonmouths control all the intangibles but it will take three games to move on.
Contact the author at lee.marion@prohockeynews.com
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