Inconsistent effort dooms Spiders

Jan. 6, 2015

Two solid periods and one awful period added up to a soul-crushing loss for the Spiders on Sunday evening.

The Spiders had reason for optimism heading into Sundays game against the Wild. The Spiders beat the Wild 7-5 in their first meeting. The Spiders were fresh off a tough 3-2 win over the Taz Devils. And the Wild were coming off a forfeit loss to the Mighty Northern on December 27th where they only had four skaters show up. Improved game attendance must have been a New Year’s resolution for the Wild players as a contingent of 17 skaters dressed against the Spiders.

The game started with the Wild getting the better of play with Spider goalie Brian Dow tested early. The Spiders turned it around quickly with Aaron Bedessem and Geoff Kuppe scoring just a couple minutes apart to put the Spiders up 2-0. The Wild struck back, narrowing the gap to 2-1 less than a minute after Kuppe’s goal. Spider rookie Mario Mariani extended the lead to 3-1 late in the period but the Wild responded quickly to bring the eventful period to a close with the Spiders leading 3-2.

The ice was tilted in the Spiders favor in the second as Jay Hilden, with a nice deflection of a shot from the point, and Geoff Kuppe made the score 5-2. Apparently the Spiders decided a three goal lead in the middle of the second period meant they could coast home. The Wild had other plans with two quick goals to get within one. Late in the period Geoff Kuppe finished off his hat trick for yet another two goal cushion.

The Wild continued to take advantage of the Spiders lackluster effort as they knotted the game at 6-6 with 10:42 remaining. This seemed to spark the Spiders as the effort improved. A late Wild penalty gave the Spiders the man advantage but the Spiders couldn’t capitalize. And just as it appeared overtime was imminent, disaster struck. After sustained pressure in the offensive zone, the Wild managed to barely clear a bouncing puck out of their defensive zone. A moment of hesitation and indecision from a Spider defenseman resulted in a turnover, a Wild breakaway, and the game-winning goal with only 11 seconds left.

The locker room was quiet as the feeling of frustration weighed heavily as the Spiders got undressed. This is a critical point in the Spider season. While the Jekyll and Hyde Spiders currently sit in 4th place, a more focus and a more consistent effort will be needed for this team to be anything other than mediocre and/or irrelevant.

Is this going to be the team that scored four 3rd period goals to win the first Wild game? The team that scored four consecutive through the 2nd/3rd to beat the Loons? The team that came back from 5-0 down to beat the Gators?

Or is it going to be the team that rolled over after going up 2-0 on the Gators in the first time? The team that got stomped by the Mutiny? The team that went down 5-0 to the Gators? The team that coughed one up against the previously one-win Wild?