SPIDERS WIN DIVISION

April 3, 2010

It was the night to finish what the Spiders started at the beginning of the 2009-2010 C2 North season. Spirits were high and the players were eager to prove assistant captain, Josh Cagle, wrong when he predicted in the locker room following the Spiders’ tie game in November against the Sled Dogs, “This could be the game we look back on that got away.” The result of tonight’s game would either prove or disprove that prognostication. On the line was nothing less than first place in the C2 North division and an opportunity for the Stalpes brothers from Big Lake to have an extra hour of sleep during the Saturday portion of the playoffs.

The Spiders took the ice missing Tromiczak and Butalla (upper body injuries), as well as Lindsley and Chris Stalpes (scheduling conflicts). The Spiders began the game with their traditional slow start. The Renegades scored first on a NHL-style redirect from their center while he was on his knees with Harnett burying his knee in his back. One minute later, Tim Stalpes helped his own cause for more slumber by blasting the first of his two goals past the opposing goalie amidst screens from Hilden and Bedessem. The Spiders’ luck seemed capricious as chance after chance had pucks just rolling wide, bouncing over sticks or being swatted right into a sprawling netminder. The Renegades closed out the first period scoring from a sharp angle which managed to pinball between Dow’s leg and the goal post.

The second period found the Spiders dominating after a rousing speech by Schliesman. They notched two gritty goals, the first of which found Gustafson on the open side of the net and he was able to capitalize on Harnett’s rebound, one of the many that Renegades’ goalie, Homel, was giving up all night. Wily Tim Stalpes notched his second during a Spiders’ line change when he craftily skated around behind the net and stuffed it in. The Spiders did have a second period defensive break down and gave up a rare break-away opportunity. The Renegades forward put on a move that had Dow sliding to the corner and then he buried it into the open net. End of the period found a 3-3 tie on the scoreboard.

The third period finally saw Lady Luck begin to exercise her mind-changing prerogative and provided some scoring chances for the Spiders. Gustafson followed up on another Stalpes’ blast from the point and poked it through for the first lead of the game. With five minutes to go, the Renegades’ forward again had Dow’s number and launched a blast from the blue line tying up the game. It would appear at this juncture that the game would end in a draw, giving the Spiders the single point necessary for the them to win the division, when Bedessem fired an off-speed shot that Lady Luck saucily rolled up the goalie’s stick and dropped into the net with 4.3 seconds remaining.

The win provided both great relief and the removal of the prior season’s monkey that had affixed itself to the back of the Spiders. The Spiders earned the number 1 seed in Pool B and will face the Muskies on Tuesday, the Royals on Thursday, and the Roadrunners on Saturday morning. If all goes according to plan, they will play again on 6:45 or 7:15 on Saturday night with the Championship game on Sunday at 2:00.

Attendance 17