Spiders Roll To 4-0 Win Over Bulls

April 7, 2011

Fresh off a by-the-skin-of-the-teeth tie against the Royals, the Spiders were confident and relaxed for their Thursday matinee ice time against the Bulls on the Olympic sized ice of the B.I.G. rink #3. The Spiders hadn’t played the Bulls since the 2008-09 season but were pretty familiar with them as the Spiders and Bulls have collaborated to play together in the summer and AHA Fall Tournament several times over the last few years.

From the opening face-off there was little doubt who the better team was on Thursday night. The Spiders controlled the tempo and puck for long stretches of the first period, outshooting the Bulls 10-2. Yet they couldn’t put the puck past Bull netminder Greg Eide and the first period came to a close scoreless.

It’s become the Spiders M.O. to out play teams but not out score them. Luckily that wasn’t the outcome on Thursday as Jack Delsing put the Spiders up 1-0 midway through the 2nd period on a rebound. Then Brad Butalla extended the lead to 2-0 as the Spiders continued to get the puck and bodies to the net.

Meanwhile the Spiders defense and goalie Brian Dow were forming a wall in front of the net. What few chances the Bulls had were cleared by the D-men and directed into the corner by Dow. No save was bigger than a toe save by Dow on a deflection early in the third to keep the lead at two goals. After a shaky performance against the Royals, there was no doubt Dow was sharp on this night.

The Spiders were firmly in control of the game but a parade to the penalty box gave the Bulls some hope. Fortunately the penalty killers were up to the task and the Spiders continued the pressure at even strength. Brian Armagost added a goal with just under eight minutes left to make the score 3-0. Just over a minute later, Jack Delsing got his second goal of the night to make it 4-0 and that’s how the game would end. Dow claims his second career playoff shutout, with the first coming last year against the Muskies.

The win moves the Spiders to 1-0-1 in playoff pool B. Across town at Breck Arena, the Thunder Chickens did the Spiders a favor by beating the Royals 4-3. This means the Spiders completely control their own destiny and win the pool if they can beat the Thunder Chickens on Saturday morning.

The Thunder Chickens won the North division in the regular season with a 15-3-1-1 record but were upset in the first round of pool play by the Bulls with a final score of 4-3. The puck drops at 10:45am on B.I.G. rink #1.