Spiders Prepped For Playoffs

April 5, 2012

Highlights:

Playoff rules/tiebreakers

There will be no overtime in round-robin pool play. Pool play games will end in ties and will count in the standings.
If at any time the score differential is six or greater in the third period, the clock will convert to running time. If at any time the score differential goes below six goals, the clock will revert back to stop time.
In Pool Championship and Tier Championship games, if at the end of the three periods the score is tied, the teams shall play one overtime period of five minutes, running time. If at the end of the overtime period the score is still tied, a shootout will take place. Shootout rules are as follows:
- Three players from each team participate in the order the team captain selects. The home team will elect whether to shoot first or second.
- Each team takes three shots in alternating fashion. The team with the most goals after those six (or fewer) shots is the winner.
- If the score remains tied, the shootout will proceed to a “sudden death” format. No skater may participate more than once until all other skaters have participated.
Tiebreakers for pool standings:
1. Most points
2. Wins
3. Head-to-head
4. Goal differential (six goals maximum per game)
5. Fewest goals against
6. Fewest minor penalties
7. Fewest total penalty minutes
8. Earliest goal scored
9. Coin toss
(Note: If three teams are tied, once a team is determined as the higher seed, the tiebreaker reverts to step 1 of the criteria between two remaining teams, if necessary.)

With a dominating 9-2 win over the 3rd* place Yellow Jackets, the Spiders wrapped up the regular season with a 14-4-2-0 record. The Spiders will take the 2nd seed in Pool A for the playoffs, matched up with the Rack Attack, Fighting Piranhas, and Beavers.

C2 Pool A
Team	Division	Record
Rack Attack	East	13-3-2-2
Spiders	North	14-4-2-0
Fighting Piranhas	West	14-4-1-1
Beavers	East	11-7-2-0

C2 Pool B
Team	Division	Record
Zephyrs	North	15-4-1-0
Sled Dogs	West	14-4-2-0
Royals	East	12-7-1-0
Warriors	North	9-6-2-3

C2 Pool C
Team	Division	Record
Blizzard	West	14-1-3-2
Sting	East	12-6-2-0
Yellow Jackets	North	12-7-1-0
Admirals	West	14-5-1-0

Scouting Reports:

Rack Attack

The Rack Attack took the East division regular season title. With only 30 goals allowed for the entire season, the Rack Attack have the strongest defense and goaltending above the D2 level. On the downside, they have only scored 62 goals. In fact, the Rack Attack have not won a single game this season when allowing three or more goals. Against a team like the Spiders who have scored 96 goals total (second most among C2 playoff teams) and at least three goals in a game 16 times, this could be their downfall. A low-scoring game favors the Rack Attack while a track meet favors the Spiders.
Fighting Piranhas

The Fighting Piranhas are very familiar to the Spiders as the two teams fought to the death for the C2 West division championship last season. Though the teams finished tied in points through the regular season, the Piranhas took the regular season as they took two of three games from the Spiders.

The 2011/12 Piranhas look fairly similar to the 2010/11 version. The major change is the loss of scoring champion and all-around ringer Andy Smiglewski. While the loss of a player of this caliber would affect any team the Piranhas remain a contender, finishing a close 3rd in the extremely competitive C2 West this season. The Spiders will open the playoffs against the Piranhas and this game will be a war.
Beavers

The Spiders know little of the Beavers as the teams have never met. (Insert your own joke here.) What is known is that Beavers held off the Thunder Chickens for the last playoff spot in the C2 East. The Thunder Chickens ended the Spiders season last year with a 3-2 loser-leaves-town win in pool play.

Playoff schedule:

Date	Time	Arena	Home	Away
Wednesday, April 11	9:30 p.m.	Breck	Spiders	Fighting Piranhas
Friday, April 13	1:15 p.m.	BIG 1	Spiders	Beavers
Saturday, April 14	12:30 p.m.	Highland N	Rack Attack	Spiders
Saturday, April 14	9:45 p.m./10:00 p.m.	BIG	C2 semi-final
Sunday, April 15	3:15 p.m.	BIG 1	C2 final

*The mid-season banishment of the M’s to C1 for the playoffs effectively removed them from the standings. The M’s finished with 33 points, first in the division, but the Zephyrs took the 1st playoff seed with 31 points. The Spiders were second with 30 followed by the Yellow Jackets with 25 and the Warriors with 23.