Macon pushes Columbus to brink of elimination

The Columbus Cottonmouths’ playoff hopes took a serious blow Friday night with a 4-1 loss to the Macon Mayhem at the Columbus Civic Center.

With the victory, Macon clinched its berth. Seven teams have not qualified for the SPHL playoffs.

The final berth will be decided between Columbus and Louisiana, which meet Saturday night at the Columbus Civic Center. Louisiana is in eighth place with 50 points. Columbus has 44.

If Louisiana beats Columbus, it will clinch the final playoff berth. Even if Columbus wins, it will need to earn five points in the final three games at first-place Peoria next week, while Louisiana loses out. The Ice Gators play Mississippi once and Knoxville twice next week.

“No matter what, we have to have the same game plan and force the tempo,” Cottonmouths coach Jerome Bechard said. “My biggest concern is keeping the guys motivated. No matter what happens they have to compete.”

Following 18 minutes of a scoreless opening period, Macon’s Jackson Brewer broke through, launching a one-timer from center ice past Columbus goaltender Brandon Jaeger.

After a scoreless second period, five minutes into the third, forward Shawn Skelly scored the first of two goals in the period, extending the Mayhem lead to 2-0. Skelly’s two third-period goals now gives him 62 points catapulting to the top of leaderboard in points.

Columbus’ Alex Pompeo helped stave off the Macon shutout scoring the only Columbus goal of the night at 12:31 of the final period.

Macon closed out the third period scoring a pair of empty net goals. Forward Daniel Gentzler ended the night with assists on three of the four Mayhem goals.

“We peppered him (Garrett Bartus) in that second period.” Bechard said. “I thought for the most part scoring opportunities were fairly even. We just didn’t make the most of ours.”

In the loss, Jaeger stopped 29 of 31 shots faced, while his counterpart pushed aside 29 of 30 shots improving his record against the Snakes to 7-1-1.

Prior to the game, goalie Shannon Szabados was placed on injured reserve, solidifying Jaeger’s position as the starter for the remainder of the regular season. Columbus signed Andrew Loewen to a full-time contract to finish out the year.

“Jags has earned the right to pull the rope the rest of the way,” Bechard said. “With a little more practice, Loewen could see some action next weekend in Peoria.”

Neither team scored on the power play with both clubs going 0 for 4. Despite having the third best penalty kill unit, Columbus is four games away from going down in SPHL history as the first team to not score a short-handed goal all season.

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Macon pushes Columbus to brink of elimination."