Spiders keep pace with points leaders

Jan. 15, 2011

The C2 Muskies entered the game with seven points and were seeking to be a player in the post-season festivities. The Spiders were skating with the shortest bench all season.

Saturday night, the Spiders whupped ’em 4-1 on home ice.

“Just a great effort,” Spiders veteran Doug Thorson said. “There wasn’t a guy in the dressing room you can find tonight that didn’t play well.”

Peruse the standings, and it’s clear why the Spiders were the most confident team on New Hope South’s ice. Last week, the Spiders were first in the C2 Western Conference. Ten nights later, the Spiders needed to beat the most desperate team in the NHL simply to keep pace with the Jets and Fighting Piranhas.

That’s why Aaron Bedeesm was fighting. That’s why Greg Lindsley was leaping into the crease to save a goal. That’s why Tim Staples was diving in front of shots. That’s why tiny Bruce Gustafson was taking hits to make a play. That’s why Jay Hilden was backchecking as well as he was forechecking.

And that’s why goaltender Brian Dow was dizzyingly sliding from side to side to maintain their three goal lead.

“We had lots of sparks in different ways,” Interim Captain Brian Dow said.

After playing this desperately for 54 minutes only to lose Wednesday to the Piranhas, Aaron Bedessem put it this way: “Justice. We put in the time today and we got rewarded for it, finally.”

The Spiders, thanks in large part to Dow’s 21 saves and incredible special teams (power-play goal, 4-for-4 penalty kill), beat a team that was 1-4 since Nov. 21 and had lost once in overtime since Dec. 5.

“We’re a strange team, there’s no doubt about it,” Jay Hilden said. “You never know some nights what’s going to show up.”

Hilden got things started with a second-period goal, but the Spiders came to play in a scoreless first. The Spiders unleashed the game’s first three shots and didn’t give up its first until the 15:20 mark.

“The only reason we were in it after the first 10 minutes was the way Picha [J.] played,” said Muskies captain B. Winer, who started Picha in goal because C. Pink had been yanked in his past three games.

But finally, Hilden drove the net from the side, and with him, Bedessem and Yard crashing, Hilden found the gap in the pads.

“Driving for the extra yard,” Hilden joked.

The crowd, which roared when Butalla powered through the defense and stuffed one in midst the sprawling defense, was incited again during Bedessem third-period “fight,” when he was thrown to the ice in front of the goal.

The backbreaker came when Hilden pressured Picha behind the goal and found the open net for the backbreaker.

The Spider dagger was driven home when Bortnem sent a rocket wrister into the upper corner.

“It’s a 2-nothing game, and they were pushing,” Dow said. “When the puck went in, seeing [Muskies’] guys out on the ice, I sensed that was enough.”

It was the Muskies’ worst loss since losing 7-0 to the Sled Dogs on Dec. 15, 2010. The Spiders have beaten Muskies in four consecutive games by a 16-4 total.

“We have a tough time against the Spiders. We always have,” Muskies captain Winer said.

The Spiders now go into a stretch of three games in 8 days, so they are looking for positive final impression before the early February break for the home crowd, which has been so frustrated watching the Spiders’ scoring lull in their last game.

Saturday’s was far from that, and the overstuffed crowd let the Spiders hear its appreciation over and over.

“When you earn it, it’s always a little nicer. I don’t know if we earned enough of it this year,” Brad Butalla said. “It’s nice to get them feeling good about our team.”

Attendance: 15