Spiders Take a Bite Out of the Landsharks

Nov. 27, 2016

Thanksgiving breaks have not been kind over the past five years. The last time the Spiders came out as the victor was in 2010 when the team was still in the C2 ranks. Since that game, they have experienced four losses and one tie. The bench was thin with 3 late healthy scratches and two on short-term IR put only eleven on the bench. Tonight started out in a similar negative tryptophan fashion.

The familiar Landsharks took advantage of an untimely turnover to take the lead a mere 20 seconds into the game. It was seven long minutes before Peterson netted his first goal as a Spider to tie the game. At that point, the ice started to tilt but in typical recent Spider fashion, the fan favorites didn’t want to take the reins of control too early. With just under three minutes to go in the first, Hilden put in a scrappy goal to take the lead.

The second period started with Spiders controlling and Tromi adding to his yearly point total with the third tally of the game. The enjoyment of a two goal lead was short lived when a seeing-eye shot from the blue line found its way in the back of the net for the Landsharks.

Despite all of the missed passes, failed clearing attempts, and periods of Turkey induced sluggishness, the Spiders were able to score four unanswered goals by Wilson, Hilden, Hank (yes, Hank finally scored after a year layoff), and Wilson. When the final horn sounded, the Spiders had a commanding win 7-3 and outshot the Landsharks 45-34 and dominated the entire third period.

Cagle commented to the media after the game that he was quite satisfied that we were able to beat the team that we were supposed to beat. This has not always been the case in previous years.

This was a game of scrappy Spider goals, heavy pressure on opponent’s net and a grind-it-out performance. Things didn’t always go right the first time but the secret sauce of staying out of the box and playing with the lead came up on the good side.

Is this is a sign of a team on the rise? It is a long season with other holiday induced comas and vacations that may have unexpected delays. When the Spiders face other teams, the bench of eleven will most likely not be a recipe for a win. As it is, they are settled into the middle of the pack in the division with a late game at the Olympic sheet on Sunday and time will show how this team is developing.