COLUMBUS, GA – The Columbus Cottonmouths’ pre-Christmas deal with the Pensacola Ice Flyers finally came to fruition Saturday night.
Defenseman Zach Loesch, acquired from the Flyers on Dec. 21, scored a power-play goal for the Snakes to break a nearly 123-minute scoreless streak dating back to a Keegan Bruce game-winning goal against Pensacola on Dec. 23.
However, it proved not to be enough as the Ice Flyers defeated the Cottonmouths 5-1 before a listless New Year’s Eve crowd of 1,762 at the Columbus Civic Center. The loss kept Columbus last in the SPHL standings heading into 2017.
Pensacola outscored Columbus 10-1 in the home-and-home series, including a 5-0 loss to the Ice Flyers on Friday night in Florida.
Loesch’s goal, which was the first of his pro career and against his former teammates, was assisted by Spencer Galbraith and Andy Bathgate.
“It was nice to get one early and get the first pro goal and get it off my back,” Loesch said. “I thought it was going to be a good start, but it obviously didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. It was a good goal, but a tough game to get it in.”
It was Bathgate’s 13th point of the season, tying him with Riley Spraggs for the team lead this season. However, Spraggs was the other part of the Loesch deal and has worn a Pensacola sweater for the past 10 days.
Since arriving to Pensacola, Spraggs has seven points in four games – including six points in the three games he has faced the Cottonmouths as a member of the Ice Flyers.
Former Cottonmouth Louis Belisle, now on the blue line for Pensacola, has also been a thorn in the Snakes’ side. Belisle has eight points in seven games, scoring at least a point in six of the seven games between Columbus and Pensacola so far this season. He led all scorers Saturday night with three points off two goals and an assist.
“Louie played the best two games I’ve probably seen him play the last two years,” Snakes head coach Jerome Bechard said of Belisle’s play Friday and Saturday nights. “They’ve got him playing defense, he’s very controlling, and he played well. At the end of the day, we’re making him look good. We let them skate wherever they wanted to. We had no pressure or no pushback the last two games.”
After Loesch’s goal to put Columbus ahead 1-0, Pensacola scored five unanswered goals. The fifth and final goal, which will go down as the last goal scored against the Snakes in 2016, was perhaps a microcosm of the Cottonmouths’ woes the past calendar year.
The Ice Flyers skated 2-on-0 from the neutral zone on a helpless goaltender Brandon Jaeger, with Belisle passing the puck on his knees to John Gustafsson, who beat Jaeger blocker side.
“Jags has been playing his heart out,” Bechard said. “Breakaway after breakaway after breakaway, 2-on-0, it’s crazy.”
The Snakes have scored 42 points in 21 games, an even two goals per game. The offensive output ranks last among all SPHL teams in a league that averages 2.90 goals per game. Columbus is on pace for 112 goals on the season, which would shatter their own SPHL record set last season for lowest offensive output in a season with 124 goals.
“I think we were well prepared to come out and play,” Bechard said. “We took it to them the first five minutes, created a power play, and scored a nice power play goal. For some reason, we stopped doing what we were doing the first five minutes, fell asleep, and they took it to us the other 55 minutes.
“We’ve got some soul-searching to do in there. You don’t go from being fairly happy with your hockey team to wanting to get rid of everyone, but it comes down to pride, and I’ve got to get that out of that locker room. I just don’t understand what happened the last couple of nights.”
When asked if any job was safe, Bechard had a simple answer.
“No,” he replied. “There’s 18 guys in there, and it won’t get better with guys pulling each other apart. I’m not getting rid of all 18 guys per se, but something’s gotta give.
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