Spiders mid-season review

Jan. 22, 2014

At the (more or less) halfway point of the season, it’s time to take stock. The Spiders knew the move to B3 would be tough. The hope was to keep in the playoff hunt until the team adjusted to the higher skill level.

The Spiders currently sit in sixth in the B3 West with a record of 5-6-0, tied with the Fighting Piranhas who have a game in hand. Although playoff details haven’t been released it’s almost certain the top four teams will qualify. This puts the Spiders two games behind the fourth-place Ice Hogs with nine games left to go.

Highlights:

- The offseason addition of Mike Townsend, Bob Maietta, Geoff Kuppe, Tom Prausa and Derk Jacobson has provided a huge lift. Townsend leads the team with 11 goals. Maietta has chipped in 6 points while providing flexibility as he can play forward or defense. Kuppe has brought much needed skill as a substitute center and added four points. Prausa and Jacobson have proved to be solid additions to the blue line.

- Shawn Tromiczak’s return has brought some much needed scoring punch to the defense, scoring five goals and adding six assists.

- The move of Chris Stalpes from defense to forward has been a huge success. Chris is tied for the team scoring lead with 15 points.

- The offense is humming right along. The Spiders 52 goals are third in the division.

- Dominating the second place Battle Cats 8-2 on January 5th.

Lowlights:

- The Spiders can’t keep the puck out of their own net, giving up 57 goals. This is the second worst in the division. The Spiders have only given up less than three goals twice.

- A disturbing tendency to stare at the puck and lose track of opposition players. On the bright side, the Spiders have been much better in this regard recently.

- A demoralizing 10-3 loss to the Lakers.

So all in all, the Spiders are about where they hoped to be. The Spiders are in striking distance of the playoffs with recent strong outings giving reason for optimism.

Keys to success for the rest of the season:

1) Tighten up defensively. Recent play has been better but there’s still work to do.

2) Beat the teams lower in the standings. Six of the nine remaining games are against the bottom four teams.

3) Steal a game or two against the top teams.