Bus crash postpones Cottonmouths’ game while team recovers

The Columbus Cottonmouths’ game against the Peoria Rivermen Friday night has been postponed due to the Cottonmouth’s bush crash Thursday night, the Peoria Journal Star is reporting.

The two teams are still scheduled to play Saturday night, but that will depend on the conditions of the Cottonmouths’ players.

The team charter bus carrying the Cottonmouths to Peoria, Ill., Thursday lost control on an interchange ramp between I-74 and I-55 and rolled down a hill, injuring many of the 23 people onboard, according to reports.

All the players and staff aboard were taken to a hospital, but only two were reported to have serious injuries, but neither of them life-threatening.

"It's chaos, looks like a MASH unit over there," Peoria Rivermen co-owner Bart Rogers told the Peoria Journal Star. "There are players on crutches, players with broken hands, injured tendons, ligaments. It looked as if they might only have 8-10 players who would be OK to play."

Cottonmouths owner Wanda Amos said the team was “banged up, but most have already been released from the hospital. They've been taken to their hotel by the Peoria organization.”

“I can't say enough about the Peoria owners, coaches, staff and fans,” Amos said. “They have been wonderful to our players and staff. My phone has been blowing up with good wishes from all over the league. All we can do now is pray."

Cottonmouth goaltender Brandon Jaeger may have suffered a broken leg, according to media reports, and another player may have broken a collarbone, but most of the injuries were minor.

Rogers told the Journal Star that Cottonmouth coach Jerome Bechard is looking to find players to shore up his roster for Saturday night’s game.

"Coach Bechard says he is confident he can bring in some players, and we'll play Saturday," Rogers said. "But it's been such a traumatic day for them, it just did not seem feasible to play the Friday game."

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 9:01 AM with the headline "Bus crash postpones Cottonmouths’ game while team recovers."