Columbus Cottonmouths The Columbus Cottonmouths are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus , Georgia , United States . The team is nicknamed as the " Snakes " , and play their home games at the Columbus Civic Center . Central Hockey League . In 1996 , the Columbus Cottonmouths started play in the Central Hockey League ( CHL ) , joining the Macon Whoopee and Nashville Nighthawks as expansion entries that were originally slated to be in the Southern Hockey League before its demise in the summer of 1996 . Along with the Memphis RiverKings , an established CHL franchise , and the Huntsville Channel Cats , the Southern Hockey League ( SHL ) champion in 1996 and the lone surviving franchise from that league , Columbus and the other two expansion SHL teams formed the new Eastern Division of the CHL in the 1996 - 97 season . In 1998 , the team won the CHL championship , defeating the Wichita Thunder in a four - game sweep . The Cottonmouths were in the CHL playoffs each of their five seasons in the league , making it to the league finals in 2000 before losing to the Indianapolis Ice and in 2001 before falling to the Oklahoma City Blazers . In the summer of 2001 , the CHL merged with the Western Professional Hockey League ( WPHL ) and geographic rivalries in Huntsville and Macon were lost , leading the Cottonmouths to seek and obtain entry into the East Coast Hockey League ( ECHL ) . East Coast Hockey League . From 2001 - 2004 the Columbus Cottonmouths played in the ECHL , bringing with them their long time Captain Jerome " Boom - Boom " Bechard and Head Coach Bruce Garber . In the three seasons that Columbus spent in the ECHL , they failed to make the playoffs . Mid - way through their second season in the ECHL , Garber , the only coach in team history , resigned . General Manager Phil Roberto took over for the remainder of the season . Their best season in the ECHL was their last . Prior to the 2003 - 04 season the team announced the signing of their new Coach , former NHL tough guy Brian Curran . They finished with a 37 - 27 - 8 record , tied with the Greensboro Generals for the best record by a non - playoff team that season . In April 2004 , the Cottonmouths management announced their intentions to move their ECHL franchise to the Bradenton - Sarasota area in Florida . The team , which was later named the Gulf Coast Swords , would never come to fruition as financial setbacks delayed the construction of their to - be home arena . Finally , after foreclosure on the arena property and numerous delays , the ECHL revoked the Swords franchise in the league in the summer of 2006 . Southern Professional Hockey League . Since 2004 the Columbus Cottonmouths have played as a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League ( SPHL ) . Led by first year Coach , and Columbus hockey legend Jerome Bechard , the team won the inaugural SPHL championship in April 2005 by first winning a one game playoff against the Fayetteville FireAntz by a 4 - 2 score . They next swept the regular season champion Knoxville Ice Bears to advance to the league finals , which they won against the Macon Trax with two straight victories , ending with a 3 - 2 overtime win . The Snakes ' victory capped an undefeated postseason in which they won five games without losing a single contest . In 2006 , the Cottonmouths finished with the second - best regular season record in the league but were ousted in the first round of the playoffs two games to one by the Huntsville Havoc . In 2007 the Columbus team won the SPHL Commissioner ' s Cup as the team with the best season record , but was ousted in the first round of playoffs by the Jacksonville Barracudas , who won three games to the Cottonmouths ' one victory . In 2008 , the Cottonmouths ironically relied on the team that would oust them from the playoffs to get them into the playoffs . On the last day of the regular season , the Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Huntsville Havoc to give the Snakes the sixth and final playoff berth , which would pit them against first - place Knoxville . The home team won every contest of the best - of - five series with Columbus recovering from an 0 - 2 deficit with a pair of home wins before losing the deciding contest in Knoxville . The Snakes ' 22 - 24 - 6 regular - season record was a Columbus hockey team ' s first losing record since 2002 – 03 and the first one by a non - ECHL team . On April 14 , 2012 , the Cottonmouths won their second President ' s Cup championship with a two - game sweep of the Pensacola Ice Flyers . The Snakes won game one 3 - 2 at home and then completed the championship series with a 3 - 1 road victory over the Ice Flyers . The Cottonmouths went undefeated in the playoffs .