Spiders offense explodes with 10 goals, beat Rack Attack 10-4

Dec. 17, 2012

The Spiders offensive juggernaut kept rolling Sunday night against an outgunned and outmanned Rack Attack squad with a 10-4 win. This is the first time the Spiders have hit the “decade” mark since a 10-4 win over the Roadrunners on December 18th, 2011.

Four different players (Tim Stalpes, Dave Schliesman, Jay Hilden, and Cody Yard) all scored two goals as the Spiders overcame another early goal allowed. After allowing goals 1:25 and 0:51 into the previous two games, the Rack Attack put the Spiders in the hole only 0:15 into the game on Sunday. Tim Stalpes, scoring the first of his two goals, got the Spiders on the board with a deflection of a shot from Chris Stalpes.

Schliesman, Jim Maietta, and Yard added goals in the first period. The second period brought goals from Jay Hilden and Tim Stalpes. Schliesman, Hilden, Mark Bortnem, and Yard put more pucks behind the Rack Attack sub goalie Matt Zarras in the third period.

Goaltender Matt Zarras, normally with the D1 Arctic Wolves, filled in admirably for the Rack Attack but the speed of the game and tired legs from his second game of the night took a toll. Zarras made some nice saves but didn’t have a chance on some goals as his defense failed him or pucks were deflected.

Spider netminder Brian Dow played a strong game with several key saves. One highlight for Dow was his second assist of the season as he picked up the second helper on Cody Yard’s breakaway goal in the third period.

The Spiders win, coupled with the Royals loss to the Sled Dogs earlier on Sunday, move the Spiders into first place in the C1 East division with a record of 5-1-1. Next up is a Christmas weekend matchup against the newly-promoted-to-C1 Puck Hounds. Not only will the Spiders have a short bench due to understandable holiday commitments but the game will be on the Olympic-sized rink at BIG. Why do you do this to us AHA?