Spiders Dominant In 5-1 Win Over Roadrunners

Feb. 20, 2011

As Snowmageddon Part Deux raged outside, the Spiders arrived at the venerable State Fair Coliseum for their third game against the Roadrunners. The Roadrunners came into the game in last place in the C2 West but had played the Spiders tough in the previous two meetings. In the season opener, the Roadrunners beat the Spiders 4-1 while the Spiders took the rematch 5-4 on a pair of short-handed goals late in the third period.

From the drop of the puck it was obvious the Spiders had no stomach for a close game. The Spiders got on the board midway through the first period on the power play as Bruce Gustafson took a centering pass and made a nifty move to his forehand before burying the puck past the ‘Runner sub netminder. Less than a minute later Jay Hilden scored his team-leading 10th goal after creating a turnover on the forecheck. Brian Armagost added to the lead with his first goal in the last minute of the period.

The veteran Schliesman/Thorson/Maietta line got rolling in the second period as Dave Schliesman had two goals with his line mates receiving two helpers. Spider goalie Brian Dow kept himself in line for a shutout with a mano y mano stop on Roadrunner breakaway specialist Jeff Erickson.

The shutout came to an end early in the third period as a slapshot from the point deflected after a Spider defenseman and past Dow. Unshaken by the goal, Dow made a couple big saves to keep the Roadrunners at bay. Final score – Spiders win 5-1.

With last week’s intense game against the 3rd place Jets and next week’s game against the 2nd place Fighting Piranhas, this easily could have been a trap game. Instead, the Spiders showed off some offensive firepower and trademark solid defense and goaltending.

The first game against the Fighting Piranhas ended with a 1-0 Spiders victory with Spiders goalie Brian Dow making 38 saves in a game that they probably deserved to lose. The second game ended with a 2-1 Fighting Piranha victory as their goaltender made 34 saves and was assisted by some officiating that was, well…not in line with the USA Hockey emphasis on hooking, interference, and holding. The teams will square off again on Saturday, February 26th at New Hope South at 9:30pm.