AHA Hat Night at the Coliseum

Jan. 13, 2008

Just like “Bat Day” at a Twins game, it was “Hat Day” at the AHA game tonight….you could feel the buzz in the arena as fans and players donned their spiffy new AHA hats in support of the league’s new “friendlier” approach to fans and players. Fans had been seen camping out in front of the Coliseum for hours to be the first to receive their new AHA official logo hats. One spectator was quoted as saying, “yeah, me and my brother came all the way down from Bemidji just to watch the Spiders and get a free hat. Sure was cold camping outside in line, but it was worth it.”

The Spiders came out in the 1st period with a lot of jump, generating a lot of fore-check and a quick goal 2 minutes into the period. The Spiders management had spent a full week juggling line combinations in an effort to generate more offense, and in the first 3 minutes of the game, it looked like pure genius at work. However, the 3rd place Roadrunners answered back just 25 seconds later to tie the game. The Spiders continued the first period fore-check, but couldn’t quite generate the shots necessary on the Roadrunners net minder. The Roadrunners scored one more to end the first period up 2-1.

The second period opened with another quick Roadrunner goal, and the Spiders began to grow weary. The Spiders defensive zone breakout was troubled as the Roadrunners kept pinching their defense and pinning them back deep. The spark for the Spiders came in the second period when Spiders Captain Dave Schliesman potted 2 goals within 10 seconds to bring the score to within one goal at 4-3. However the spark soon faded as the Spiders netminder continued to get pummeled, taking 17 shots in the second period.

The Roadrunners continued to open the gap scoring 2 more in the 3rd including a power play goal, bringing the final total to 6-3. At the end of the game, a face-off in the Roadrunners zone yielded a controversial call against the Spiders’ Jim Green. Green was sent to the cooler for a 10 minute misconduct in what appeared to be the referee falling over Jim’s stick during the melee.

Up next for the Spiders are the first place Lakers 1/20/08 at SLP. Tonight’s attendance: a capacity crowd (including the Spiders D1 crew … thanks for your patronage). Rumored, but unconfirmed, was the sighting of Bob Naegle scouting the Spiders from the luxury box, and chatting with the current Spiders ownership group about a possible buyout.