Goalie Picked Up Off Scrap Heap Teams Up With The Greatest River Dragon In History To Propel Columbus To Easy Win

York Plagge
Mar 23, 2022
7 min read

The Four Nomadic Hippies were certainly ready for their first-ever FPHL action, but they were ill-prepared for all the cowbells that went along with it... so much cowbell.

Our time in Columbus was more than adequate, and the move there got us out of Macon. This scored some significant points for the city, and there is no better way to show our love than cheering heartily for the hometown hockey team... which we did.

4NH's Five-Hole Fanatics Hockey Tour

Game #3: FPHL Regular Season Game (3/23/22)

Location: Columbus, GA (Columbus Civic Center)

Score: Columbus River Dragons (4) Carolina Thunderbirds (1)

W/W Team: Columbus River Dragons

W/W Fan Record: 3-0-0

Player Of The Game: Mike Cosentino (River Dragons)

If you were to give me a list of players on both sides before the game started and ask me to rank them in order of who I thought would be the "Player of the Game," I would venture a guess that River Dragons goaltender Mike Cosentino would have been very low on the list. Very low. Why so...?

I know it might be hard to see, but you have to trust me when I tell you, Weiland Parrish is in this picture (he is taking the face-off for the Ice Flyers)

Mike Cosentino once had a season at the Division III collegiate level, going 1-5 with an .860 SV% and a 5.40 GAA. Before being traded to Columbus earlier this season, Cosentino was 0-9 in goal for the FPHL's Delaware Thunder while putting up a .879 SV% and 6.02 GGA. Before stepping in the goal for the River Dragons tonight, Mike had not been in the net for over a month. All the data was pointing to a rough night for the River Dragons.

But this night, Mike Consentino looked as if he were among the elite goalies of minor league hockey. Mike Cosentino looked like he was a call away from a professional tryout with an ECHL or AHL team. Mike Consentino had complete control of the goal and made plays look simple. Making 32 stops on 33 shots on goal for .970 SV%, he was vital in the River Dragons' 4-1 victory in front of 1,700+ appreciative hockey fans.

Favorite Player: Josh Pietrantonio (Ice Flyers)

You know who once said, "Josh Pietrantonio is rock 'n' roll on ice. As he makes his way from red line to red line, it is as if the lead guitarist of the greatest classic rock band ever drifted into a Zen-like state during a solo, while the entire crowd lights a blunt and begins to whistle the flute part of Canned Heat's 'Going Up the Country in unison." I did... just now... and it might be the greatest description of anything... anywhere... ever.

Who among us wouldn't be mesmerized entirely by Josh Pietrantonio's beautiful mane flowing out of the back of his protective hockey headgear?

Pietrantonio is in the midst of potentially the best season of his professional career. At well over a point per game pace, it is a possibility that the team captain will eclipse both the 40-goal and 40-assist marks for the season. No wonder that the entire arena seems to have a buzz when he jumps over the boards and is borderline electric when the puck is on his stick.

We found Pietrantonio especially endearing because he looks as if he could be the illegitimate son of Marc-Andre Fleury (even though this would have made Marc-Andre a father at the age of nine). As an emerging legend of Columbus hockey, we feel fortunate to have seen him in his FPHL "prime." Still on the good side of 30, it feels like Josh hasn't finished writing his verse in the ever-evolving rock song that is hockey.

We Came To See... A Legend Of Columbus Hockey

Jerome Bechard's name has become synonymous with hockey in Columbus, Georgia. Rightfully so... as Bechard has been part of the hockey landscape in the area since he first took the ice for the now-defunct Columbus Cottonmouths of the CHL back in 1996. Even in the years between the loss of the Cottonmouths and the birth of the River Dragons, Bechard remained, taking up real estate as a trade to fill his time (and pocketbook) between his hockey-playing/coaching adventures.

Bechard's display in the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame (located inside the Columbus Civic Center) includes his jersey from his time with the Cottonmouths... and the numbers on the jersey are snakes...

The Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame (located inside the Columbus Civic Center) recognizes individuals who hail from the area or have become part of the area's sports culture, and enshrined its first class in 1996. Over the years, inductees have included all-time MLB great Frank Thomas, NFL Pro Bowler Nate Odomes, 1987 Masters winner Larry Mize, former baseball slugger Glenn Davis, and heavyweight boxing contender John "Corn" Griffin. In 2012, Jerome "Boom-Boom" Bechard joined these and other area legends in the hall.

Bechard, who turned professional after several strong seasons in the WHL, played two seasons for the New Haven Nighthawks as a member of the Los Angeles Kings franchise. Unable to break through, Boom-Boom made his way to the ECHL's Birmingham Bulls, where he scored 202 points (to go along with a bruising 1,500+ penalty minutes) in four seasons. Arriving in Columbus in 1992, Bechard continued to provide his physical play and was a fan favorite for the CHL's Cottonmouths. Boom-Boom eventually topped 2,000 penalty minutes, but only after he returned and played three games after retiring as a player, all while serving as the franchise's coach. After losing the Cottonmouths, Columbus was without hockey for two seasons. Bechard stuck around... and when the FPHL's River Dragons arrived, Boom-Boom became the first and only coach in team history. It makes perfect sense why Jerome "Boom-Boom" Bechard is "hockey" in Columbus, GA.

Dickhead Move Of The Night: Ref Forced Into Ice Work

If you have been to a hockey game live, you have undoubtedly shared in the pure joy of watching the Zamboni do its glorious work in between periods. This marvel of hockey is essentially a machine that resurfaces the ice by scraping off and collecting the used ice, then adding water that freezes and leaves behind a fresh, glassy, and magnificent sheet. It is a sight to behold. Sometimes, if I am drunk enough, I get so sucked into the process and the beauty of fresh ice that I imagine that it was me being revived in such a painstaking way and that I could rise above my current mediocrity and be something of value... But then the players come back out and begin the game again, and I forget about all that nonsense... until next time.

I wonder if this guy filed a grievance with the league for unsafe work conditions.

It is understood that the FPHL is at the fifth tier of hockey in North America. Even as some see the FPHL closing the gap with the SPHL, the salary cap and the franchise operating budgets still remain lower in the FPHL. The players, coaches, and referees are working to move up and play/coach/ref in the SPHL (and perhaps higher...), which makes one wonder whether it is the same for the game-day staff. After seeing the work of the Zamboni driver at Columbus Civic Center, I feel confident they will not be moving up the hockey ladder after leaving a rather significant swath of ice untreated during the ice work between the second and third periods.

This was the moment that the fifth-tieredness of FPHL showed itself. Something needed to be done about the untreated area... the players and coaches were motioning towards it... the scorer's area seemed to be discussing it... the refs huddled up about it. One would think that a member of stadium maintenance or a franchise employee would be along shortly to remedy the issue, and play would resume. Then things started to get a bit weird... everyone just froze without showing anything that looked like a concept of a plan for something like this. As it got dangerously close to everyone in attendance being tricked into leaving, one of the brave members of the reffing crew went and got a squiggy-type tool and did a couple of down-and-backs over it to get the action going again. I unfortunately was left to wonder why it was up to the ref to figure all this out... but then I remembered that this is the FPHL.

This May Be Of Interest...

Well before the FPHL's Columbus River Dragons came to the Columbus Civic Center, the Columbus Cottonmouths called the arena home for 21 seasons as a part of three different hockey leagues (CHL, ECHL, and SPHL). The now-defunct franchise managed to win three postseason titles (CHL Levins Cup; 2x SPHL President's Cup), and even had a former player make it all the way to the NHL (Oilers/Senators/Coyotes goaltender Mike Morrison).

The Columbus Civic Center opened in 1996 and holds nearly 7,500 fans for hockey. Over the years, it has also hosted indoor football, indoor soccer, basketball, and the epic rock band Kiss.

With all the hockey players that have left their mark at the arena, there is an enduring legacy of one particular player that surpasses all others. On December 27th, 2015, a 5'9 150 lbs. goalie from Edmonton, Alberta, recorded a 3-0 shutout for the Cottonmouths in their game against the Huntsville Havoc. It just so happens that this shutout was the first ever by a female in a men's professional league. The goalie's name... Shannon Szabados.

Szabados' best season in men's professional hockey was in 2014-15, when she posted a 15-9-1 record in goal, a 3.12 GGA, and a .907 SV% for the Cottonmouths. Even with this significant addition to hockey history, Shannon's biggest on-ice achievement must be collecting two Olympic gold medals with the Canadian Women's Hockey Team at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic Games, where she dominated the international competition.