SPHL game postponed following Columbus Cottonmouths bus crash

Friday’s Southern Professional Hockey League game between the Peoria Rivermen and Columbus Cottonmouths has been postponed in the wake of Thursday’s bus accident involving the Cottonmouths.

The game between the two teams on Saturday will go on as scheduled.

The Cottonmouths’ bus rolled over on Interstate 74 as they were en route to Illinois for a two-game set against the Rivermen. There were 24 people on the bus, including players, coaches and staff, and all of them needed to be hospitalized on Thursday, with two who were trapped in the bus needing first responders to cut a hole in the roof to get them out.

According to Dave Eminan of the Peoria Journal Star, Cottonmouths goaltender Brandon Jaeger broke his leg, another person broke a collarbone and the driver of the bus required surgery for injuries suffered during the crash. Everyone else was checked out at a local hospital and released. (UPDATE: According to the Cottonmouths, Jaeger did not suffer a broken leg and is still at the hospital.)

An Illinois State Trooper said that the bus driver was cited for “failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.”

“We are relieved that things did not turn out much worse for everyone involved in this situation,” said Rivermen owner Bart Rogers via Peoria’s website. “In my 25 years of working in this business, this is the first time I’ve ever encountered a situation like this. Our first and foremost concern was making sure that everybody on the bus was taken care of, and we will continue to do anything and everything we can to help the Cottonmouths as they work to put together a full roster to play a game on Saturday.”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy