Spiders Show Character In 5-4 Comeback Win

Dec. 20, 2010

By nearly every measure, the Spiders were having a successful season heading into Monday. A 4-1 record was the best in the division. The Spiders came into the game allowing only 1.6 goals per game, best in all of C2.

Of course that one loss was to the team they would face off against on Monday – the Roadrunners. And one area the Spiders have been completely incompetent this year is on the power play – 0 for 19 for the season. Foreshadowing commenced…

The Roadrunners got on the board first less than five minutes into the game with a between the legs, one-in-a-million deflection. Jay Hilden pulled the Spiders even three minutes later. A D-to-D pass from Chris Stalpes to Tim Stalpes created a shooting lane and Tim spotted Hilden unmarked at the far post. Tim made a perfect pass and the goalie had no chance as Hilden buried it in the back of the net.

Late in the 1st period, defenseman Josh Cagle found himself in unfamiliar territory, below the circles in the offensive zone, and drew a penalty after getting pulled down by one of the Roadrunners. Power play time! Only nine seconds after the power play began, Jay Hilden found himself on a partial breakaway and beat the Roadrunner goaltender to end the Spiders power play futility and take a 2-1 lead.

The Roadrunners tied the score six minutes into the second period on a deflection or lucky bounce or some other cheesy goal. They then took the lead with an equally fluky goal halfway through the period.

Brad Butalla made a pilgrimage to the penalty box late in the second period to put the Spiders on the penalty kill. Tim Stalpes picked up the puck in the neutral zone and powered his way to the net. The Roadrunner defensemen were so impressed that one of them decided to swipe at the puck and put it in their own net to tie the score at 3-3. With Butalla still in the box, the Roadrunners got another fortuitous bounce and chipped the puck past Dow and the three other sprawled-out Spiders to to go up 4-3.

The Spiders controlled play for much of the third period but couldn’t put anything past the Roadrunner goaltender. It was looking especially bleak as Tim Stalpes was called for tripping with 3:34 left on the game.

But there’s no quit in the Spiders at Jay Hilden scored a short-handed goal just 11 seconds later to complete his hat trick and tie the game. Then Aaron Bedessem completed the comeback with another shorty to put the Spiders in the lead. Energized by this miraculous comeback, the Spiders killed off the rest of the penalty and controlled play to seal the deal and take the 5-4 victory.

Goaltender Brian Dow finished with 21 saves and moves to 5-1 on the season.

The Spiders will take the holidays off and return to the ice on Wednesday, January 5th and will take on the Fighting Piranhas at Hopkins at 9:40pm. The Piranhas will surely be looking for revenge as Dow made 38 saves and stood on his head as the Spiders took a 1-0 win.