PENSACOLA, FL. – On Saturday, January 3, the Pensacola Ice Flyers fell to the Columbus Cottonmouths 3-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 8,049 on the second of two nights that featured five dollar seats at the Pensacola Bay Center.
Coming off their 7-1 victory the night before against the Mississippi RiverKings, the Ice Flyers were ready to continue their momentum in front of the capacity crowd but the Cottonmouths showed up ready to play.
The first period was scoreless until Columbus’s Kyle Thomas capitalized on a power play for a goal off assists from Matt Gingera and Bryce Williamson with only thirty-nine seconds remaining to make it a 1-0 game.
Following a scoreless second period, Ice Flyers’ Adam Pawlick managed to tie the game up at the 8:01 mark of the third from Corey Banfield and Steve Bergin. However, the Cottonmouths would capitalize on two more power plays that included goals from Neilsson Arcibal and an empty netter from Matt Gingera to end the game with a 3-1 win for the Cottonmouths.
The main factor of the game was the time spent in the box by Pensacola who had a total of 56 penalty minutes on 13 infractions compared to Columbus’ 15 minutes on only 6 infractions. All three goals from the Cottonmouths were scored with the man advantage. Though being shorthanded most of the game, Pensacola still managed to outshoot Columbus 34 to 27, but Andrew Loewen stood tall in net for the Cottonmouths.
The Ice Flyers now hold a record of 16-5-4 and remain in first place of the SPHL. Max Strang made his 20th start in net and took his third regulation loss of the season.
Text provided by Pensacola Ice Flyers media release
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