Andrew Loewen won't return for Cottonmouths; two goalies invited to camp
The Columbus Cottonmouths announced Wednesday that veteran goalie Andrew Loewen would not be returning to the team for the 2015-16 season.
With the start of training camp in a few weeks, the Snakes have invited a pair of players to compete for one of the two goalie positions. The Snakes have already signed Shannon Szabados to a contract for next season.
The Snakes invited Brandon Jaeger and Joel Danyluk.
Jaeger, 25, is from Champlin, Minn. He played four years at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He had a career goals against average of 2.25.
Danyluk, 25, is from Yorkton, Saskatchewan. He played at Alberta-Augustana and had a career GAA of 2.24.
Fort both players, this will be their first foray into professional hockey.
Loewen played for the Snakes for five seasons. He finished with an 84-54-7 record with a 2.47 GAA. The Snakes won the SPHL championship in 2012. Loewen played extensively during the regular season that year, but he did not play during the postseason.
"Replacing (Andrew) Loewen will be no easy task, but these two guys that are coming in have true potential to be great," Snakes coach Jerome Bechard said. "We are excited to see who is going to bring the best on the ice. The only way to bring the best out of a player is through head-to-head competition."
Last season with the Snakes, Szabados played in 25 games with a goals against average of 3.12 and a save percentage of .907. In her first abbreviated season, she played in two games and allowed seven goals.
The Snakes have announced the signing of four players in addition to Szabados. The other four are defensemen Andy Willigar and Kyle Johnson and forwards Craig Simchuk and Patrick McCadden.
The Snakes have also invited forwards Chris Rial and Andrew Kolb to training camp.
The team will hosting a free-agent camp Oct. 9-11.
The Snakes open the 2015-16 season at home against Huntsville on Oct. 23.
This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Andrew Loewen won't return for Cottonmouths; two goalies invited to camp ."