Spiders keep rolling with 6-3 win over Rack Attack

Dec. 23, 2017

The Christmas weekend and illnesses brought about a problem from the not-to-distant past: 8 skaters. The lineup started at 10 but there was a sudden illness and a friend in the hospital which narrowed the combatants. The Alternate Captain goalie was reclining on his couch when temporary Captain Hank was calling excitedly to discuss lines. Lines? What Lines? The decision was made to rotate forwards and rotate defense. Shortly after, Christian jumped on twitter and called “all time center” and no one argued.

The Rack Attack started the season with three wins but had lost three of the last four. The first hint of optimism came with when lineups were turned in and they only were dressing ten and the league individual penalty minute leader was absent from the game. The Spiders spent warm ups discussing how to conserve, when to conserve, and when to attack.

When the puck dropped, the attack started. One of the quickest goals in Spider history at just seventeen seconds in and the “all time center” scored. The pressure was sustained for so long that Dow didn’t have his first save until near the five minute mark. Adelman, J. Long, and Peterson scored the next three and the period ended with a 4-1 lead.

Peterson caused a long delay in the game as our thirteen fans rained hats on the rink to open the period. The second period included the two most oddly officiated periods of the season. This writer has never seen more hooking and slashing penalties ignored. Jacobsen extracted an opposing team members stick from his oversized sleeves and the ref said, “Not another word” (which none had been said yet) and the wry smile came out and he said “word” and ended up serving a two minute minor that was truncated by a powerplay goal to bring the score to 5-2. Joe Long answered the call and netted a powerplay goal to push the lead to 6-2 and the game was pretty much over.

The third period was a period of puck control dominance. Outshooting the Rack Attack 14-4 in the third was second only to the excessive zone control even with a certain Spiders defenseman’s stick becoming a souvenir. Hostetler from Rack Attack flung Jacobsen’s stick into the stands, then, without a penalty called, controlled the puck and blasted it by the stunned and confused Dow who claimed he was worried if America’s finest had been able to properly defend herself against the flying twig.

When the game ended, the spectators were toasty warm but the Spiders had provided the real heat and won the game 6-3. The Spiders are in first place heading into Christmas and looking forward to facing the Tax Devils who are tied for second place after a holiday-induced thrashing of the Wild.