Spiders playoff hopes still alive with 4-4 tie with Wild

Feb. 26, 2015

There was a lot at stake for the Spiders and Wild on Saturday evening. The 4th place Wild held on to the last playoff spot by a ½ game margin over the Spiders. And with the teams splitting their earlier two games, the rubber match would have tiebreaker implications.

A seeing-eye Spin-O-Rama goal to the far post had the Wild out to a 1-0 lead early in the opening stanza.

The Spiders dominated play in the second period with Ryan Wilson leveling the score and, just minutes later, Mike Townsend giving the Spiders the lead with a breakaway. Another seeing-eye shot to the far post brought the Wild back to 2-2 before Bob Maietta gave the Spiders the lead once again. The Spiders outshot the Wild 26-9 in the period and could have easily added another couple goals if prolific mercenary goaltender Brian Cherney hadn’t been at the top of his game.

Already 0-for-3 for the game in power play situations, the Spiders special teams imploded further midway through the third period. A pair of tripping calls on the Wild had the Spiders looking at over a minute of 5-on-3 advantage. But a bad offensive zone turnover and a Spider defenseman gambling with a poke check led to a Wild shorthanded breakaway and a 4-3 lead.

The Spiders continued pressuring for the tying goal with Jim Maietta scoring the crucial equalizer with six minutes left. Both teams had chances late with Brian Dow making big saves; none bigger than a pad save on a shot through traffic in the final minute. Despite the tardiness of the referees and the scorekeeper the teams had time for a run-time five minute overtime which ended scoreless. Your final, 4-4.

The tie moves the Spiders to 6-7-1-0 for the season. Next for the Spiders is a critical (aren’t they all at this point) game against the Gators. With the high school season wrapping up the prime Friday night slots are open with the Spiders taking the ice at 7:40pm at Highland North.

Playoff picture (using points lost for placement)

Elsewhere in the B3 East last weekend, the Loons upset the Gators 4-2 to leapfrog both the Spiders and Wild and take over the 4th and final playoff spot. Both the Wild and Loons have the same number of points lost but the Loons hold the tiebreaker of number of wins.

The Spiders sit in 6th place, ½ game behind the Loons and Wild.

Playoff tiebreakers:

1. Total points in the regular season.
2. Number of wins in the regular season.
3. Head-to-head record between teams in the regular season. (Applicable only if equal amount of games have been played between tied teams.)
4. Fewest total penalty minutes in the regular season.
5. Fewest goals allowed in the regular season.
6. Most goals scored in the regular season.
7. 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.)