Huntsville edges Columbus in shootout
The Columbus Cottonmouths and Huntsville Havoc took 65 minutes of play and six rounds of the shootout to declare a winner in the Southern Professional Hockey League opener for both teams.
The result was a 4-3 shootout loss for the Snakes as they opened their 20th season of hockey in Columbus.
The Snakes appeared headed for an opening night victory, holding a 3-2 lead and the clock under two minutes of play. But Huntsville's Nolan Kaiser beat goalie Shannon Szabados with only 1:48 left to send the contest into overtime.
The three-on-three extra period lasted five minutes with each team having
quality chances, but unable to light the lamp.
In the shootout, all six Snakes shooters failed to score: Andrew Kolb, Louis Belisle, Andy Willigar, Shawn Bates, Ben O'Quinn and Tyler Henry. Huntsville's first five came up empty until Stuart Stefan beat Szabados top shelf to secure the victory.
Szabados stopped a whopping 47 shots on goal. Her counterpart Kevin Genoe stopped 28.
The game marked the professional hockey debut of 9 Cottonmouths. Two scored their first professional goals back to back in the second period. With the Snakes trailing 2-1, Chris Rial scored just 52 seconds into the period, with assists from Belisle and Kyle Shapiro. Later in the period, Henry scored, with assists from Bates and Patrick McCadden.
Huntsville came close to scoring two other goals. One late in the first period was waved off after a Havoc player had incidental contact with Szabados. The other ended up sitting on the goal line, but never crossed it.
The Snakes drew a large crowd for their season opener. A festive group of 4515 was vocal and supportive all evening.
The Cottonmouths were without the services of Craig Simchuk, who was suspended for his actions in the second exhibition game of the season in Macon.
The Snakes hit the road for game two, traveling to Knoxville on Saturday for a 7:30 contest. Goaltender Joel Danyluk will be in net for the Snakes.
Friday at Columbus Civic Center
Huntsville 2 0 1 0 1 --4
Columbus 1 2 0 0 0--3
First period--1, Columbus, O'Quinn (Henry) 5:53; 2, Huntsville, Lutes (Schneider, Atkinson) 7:13; 3, Huntsville, McNeil (Reed, Stefan) 15:30. Penalties--Aide, Huntsville (fighting) 8:18; McCadden, Columbus (fighting) 8:18; Johnson, Columbus (cross-checking, 10-minute misconduct) 9:43; Genoe, Huntsville (tripping) 10:34; Rial, Columbus (tripping) 15:55.
Second period--4, Columbus, Rial (Belisle, Hafner) :52; 5, Columbus, Henry (Bates, McCadden) 16:14. Penalties--Kaiser, Huntsville (slashing) 4:26; Williams, Huntsville (interference) 9:15; Rial, Columbus (fighting) 15:59; Beirnes, Huntsville (fighting) 15:59.
Third period--6, Huntsville, Kaiser (Lidgett) 18:12. Penalties--Dallaire, Columbus (tripping) 4:28; Williams, Huntsville (roughing) 8:24; Henry, Columbus (tripping) 8:46; Rial, Columbus (tripping) 15:37.
Overtime--None.
Shootout--7, Huntsville, Stefan.
Shots on goal: Huntsville 18-9-24-5--56; Columbus 11-11-9-5--36
Power plays: Huntsville 0 of 5; Columbus 0 of 5
Goaltenders: Huntsville, Genoe (win) 65:00 31 28 3. Szabados (loss) 65:00 50 47 4
Referee: Martin. Linesmen: Kuerston, Locicero.
Time: 3:02
Attendance: 4,515
This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 11:55 PM with the headline "Huntsville edges Columbus in shootout ."