The St. Louis Vipers added local flavor to their roster of roller hockey warriors Saturday night with their second selection in the National Roller Hockey League (NRHL) draft.
St. Louis native Jack Combs, a forward who currently plays with Bad Nauheim, a DEL 2 ice hockey franchise that is considered the second tier of the sport in Germany, was claimed by the Vipers in the NRHL weekly draft that progresses over the next five Saturdays.
The Vipers, who last appeared with Roller Hockey League International in 1999, begins play at Family Arena in May. St. Louis is one of four teams that comprise the NRHL and will have 28 games on the docket in a campaign that runs through August.
After being dormant for the past four years, the NRHL returns with the Detroit Dragons, the Grand Rapids Warthogs and the Port Huron Yeti in tow.
Combs, 32, collected five goals and eight assists in 13 games this season with Bad Nauheim. Late last year, Combs was a part of the East Coast Hockey League’s Wichita Thunder, where he scored five goals and ten assists in 10 games.
In 2008, Combs attended the training camp the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche before signing with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL in 2009. Early in the 2009-10 season, Combs was traded to the Trenton Devils, where he proceeded to net 26 goals and 13 assists in 49 games.
His most point-productive ECHL season was his 2016 stint with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, scoring 27 goals and 52 assists in 40 games. Overall in the ECHL, he scored 72 goals and 146 assists in 210 games.
Combs, listed at 6-0 and 200 pounds, also had tours of duty with the Chicago Wolves, the Oklahoma City Barons, the San Antonio Rampage and the Worchester Sharks of the American Hockey League, the primary developmental league of the NHL.
Combs joins teammate Shane Fox, a defenseman selected as the team’s overall top pick last Saturday, for the Vipers’ return that takes place in St. Charles in May.
The final NRHL draft weekend will be held February 29 and a two-round supplemental draft will commence March 28.
Former St. Louis Blue Perry Turnbull, who coached the Vipers when they won the RHLI Murphy Cup Championship in 1999, helms the bench for their 2020 re-launch.
Arch City Media will be providing weekly updates of the Vipers’ draft selections over the next five Sundays.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
