The show goes on as Bechard refills Cottonmouths roster

It’s long been said that professional hockey, no matter the team, league, or level, is a tight-knit community.

For the Columbus Cottonmouths, that notion has been proven repeatedly over the past two days.

Columbus will face the Peoria Rivermen on Saturday night at Carver Arena. The puck will drop at 8:15 p.m., just 54 hours after the team’s charter bus left the roadway 10 miles from its destination, injuring all on board.

To play Saturday night’s game as scheduled, head coach and general manager Jerome Bechard sprang to action to field a roster to face the Rivermen. The team will feature a patchwork roster of current players, a couple of familiar faces returning for one game, and a familiar foe who will don a Columbus jersey for a night.

The Southern Professional Hockey League, through commissioner Jim Combs, has made some allowances for the Cottonmouths to allow them to field a competitive roster for Saturday’s game against the Rivermen.

A total of eleven players are en route to Peoria to supplement the Columbus roster.

“I’ve also got two guys driving five hours, just in case I need them,” Bechard said. “I’ve got a guy coming from Philadelphia, and I have a few local guys on standby as well.”

Perhaps the most notable addition to the team tomorrow will be an SPHL veteran putting on a Cottonmouths sweater for the first time. Veteran forward David Segal, an eight-year veteran of the league who played seven seasons in Knoxville and retired after playing last season in Pensacola, will make the trip from his home in Tennessee.

Forward Nielsson Arcibal, who played in 95 games for the Cottonmouths from 2013-15 and makes his home in Massachusetts, also will make the trek to Illinois.

Joining them is goaltender Andrew Loewen, who recently relocated to Ohio after 84 wins in six seasons in Columbus.

Other notable additions include defenseman David Watt, who began the season with Columbus prior to being waived and signed by Macon, who waived him on Thursday; and defenseman Austin Daae, who has spent parts of the past three seasons with Fayetteville, Macon, Louisiana, and Mississippi in the SPHL.

“Archie, Segal, and most of these guys are just playing one game here,” Bechard said Friday evening, reached by phone from the team hotel in Peoria. “Daae and Watt are probably here to stay (with the Cottonmouths).

Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel also supplied Bechard with a list of names and numbers for local players around the Peoria area who could pitch in. It is a unique twist of fate for the two rival coaches. Just last season, Trudel had heated words in print for Bechard after an altercation involving the Cottonmouths’ Craig Simchuk and Peoria goaltender Kyle Rank in a game in Columbus.

It again proves, however, the hockey family knows no bounds and comes to each others’ aid regardless of past circumstances.

“Hey, maybe this happened for a reason,” Bechard said.

Bechard had just returned from the team bus on Friday evening, where he recovered most of the players’ personal effects.

“I think we retrieved everything other than my phone and a couple of other things,” Bechard said.

Goaltender Brandon Jaeger, the most seriously injured of the Cottonmouths, was in a brace and walking around on his own Friday, according to Bechard, and likely will be cleared and released from the hospital on Saturday. Bus driver Wayne Allen was released from the hospital on Friday and returned home, Bechard said.

Equipment manager Mike Nash, who suffered a broken collarbone, has been recovering at the team hotel with the players.

As for the other players, Bechard will know their status to play in Saturday’s game early in the morning. Some will have to go through concussion protocol and other measures to evaluate their ability to play.

“I’ll know more first thing in the morning,” Bechard said. “It’s kind of a matter of how they sleep tonight and how they wake up in the morning. The bus leaves tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. to go to the rink. Guys will get on the ice to see how they feel, and then we’ll go from there.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 8:49 PM with the headline "The show goes on as Bechard refills Cottonmouths roster."