Spiders rebound from losing streak with 8-3 win over Aces

March 9, 2013

After a two game losing streak the Spiders answered the bell Friday night, dominating the Aces by the score of 8-3.

The Aces controlled play early and got on the board first as a pass from behind the net caught goaltender Brian Dow off the post. Unphased, the Spiders pulled together and unleashed an onslaught of goals late in the period. In a stretch of just over three minutes, Jay Hilden, Doug Thorson, Dave Schliesman, and Jim Maietta (PP) took the Spiders from a one goal deficit to a 4-1 lead.

Another Aces goal early in the second only made the Spiders angry as first Mark Bortnem and then Jay Hilden (PP) continued the scoring. The second period came to a close with the Spiders staked to a 6-2 lead.

Doug Thorson and Josh Cagle (shorthanded) added goals in the third before the Aces closed scoring to make the final score 8-3.

Despite unfamiliar line pairings, especially on the back end, the Spiders played a strong game. After a few early breakdowns the defense tightened up, forcing the Aces to shoot from the outside and clearing loose pucks in front. The forwards controlled the puck in the offensive zone, visibly wearing down the Aces through the second half of the game.

Netminder Brian Dow stood tall against the early pressure from the Aces and finished with 26 saves on the evening.

The victory takes some of the pressure off the Spiders as the next opponent is the Royals. The Royals are the Spiders nemesis, going 4-0-1 over the Spiders in the last five meetings. The Spiders out-played the Royals on the first game of the season but lost 5-3 then had a late rally come up short in the second, falling 5-4. These were the only two losses for the Spiders on the season until the recent skid.

The Spiders will be looking to break the curse on Monday, March 18th at 8:00pm at Highland North. The Royals will enter the game in desperation mode as they’re currently ½ game out of the playoffs.