Spiders Rally But Settle For 2-2 Tie With Northern Horde

Feb. 11, 2012

Same story as last time… Northern Horde jump out to an early lead. Spiders dominate the rest of the game. Northern Horde defense and goaltending limit Spiders second chances. On November 19th, the Northern Horde took a 4-1 upset win. On Thursday, the Spiders were able to rally for a 2-2 tie.

The Northern Horde dump-and-chase game seemed to fluster the Spiders early and created numerous defensive zone turnovers. One of these turnovers midway through the first period resulted in the Horde taking a 1-0 lead. Early in the second period, the Horde chipped the puck into the Spiders’ zone. A Spiders D-man skated in to collect the puck but was harassed by one of the Horde forwards into kicking the puck toward net and under the goaltender’s paddle.

Aside from the second Horde goal, the Spiders dominated the second period, outshooting the Horde 11-2. Cory Vandenberghe closed the gap to 2-1 on the power play after a strong cycle with linemates Aaron Bedessem and Jay Hilden. A short time later, Hilden tied the game at 2-2 with his 10th goal of the season. Greg Lindsley made a smart pass out of the zone to a streaking Hilden up the wing. Hilden’s first shot was stopped by Horde goalie Zach Barlow but Hilden followed his shot and chipped home the rebound.

The Spiders had plenty of opportunities the rest of the way but strong goaltending and aware defensive play by the Horde kept the score level through overtime.

Next up for the Spiders is a showdown with defending champion M’s. The Spiders expect star forwards Dave Schliesman and Jim Maietta to be active for the game. The duo missed the Northern Horde game while serving as caddies to Mark Calcavecchia and Corey Pavin at the PGA Champions Tour Allianz Championship at The Old Course at Broken Sound Club in Florida. Also, AHA Hardest Slapshot champion Bob Harnett is out for an undetermined duration due to an inner-body injury.

The M’s will play out the rest of the season in C2 before moving to C1 for the playoffs. The game will be a good test for the Spiders. They have a chance to knock off the champs if they play as they did during their six-game winning streak spanning December and January. They could also get beat worse than the 4-0 carjacking they received at the hands of the M’s earlier this season if they play as they did at times against the Zephyrs and Northern Horde. Face off is at 9:30pm on Thursday, February 16th at Breck Arena.