Spiders Beat Zephyrs 5-4 In Key Early Season Matchup

Nov. 13, 2011

While the Spiders and Zephyrs had only met a handful of times before Saturday night, it was definitely a rivalry game. The previous two meetings were in the 2009 playoffs where the Spiders won the first game 3-2 with the Zephyrs getting revenge 3-2 later the same day in the pool championship. Both teams made the playoffs last year and were off to 2-0 starts in the 2011-12 season.

Fans arriving in time for warm-ups certainly had to check their programs to determine which team was home and which was away. The Spiders home jerseys are white with a healthy compliment of black and red. The Zephyrs meanwhile made a bold choice with their new away jerseys as they went with horizontally-striped red/white/black jerseys. The result was two teams with jersey color similarities that would certainly cause problems.

The Spiders got off to a fast start, controlling the puck for most of the first period and severely outshooting the Zephyrs. Zephyrs netminder Strahota stood on his head and kept the score 0-0 through the first period.

Early in the second, a strong cycle behind the net resulted in Jim Maietta scoring his first goal of the season as he buried a loose puck in the crease. On the ensuing face off, the Zephyrs won the draw and put a long shot on net. Spiders goaltender Brian Dow made the save and left the puck for the streaking Spiders defenseman to pick up alongside the net. But because of the jersey similarities, Dow didn’t notice the Spiders defenseman was actually a Zephyrs forward who was able to swipe the puck past Dow before he could cover.

This lucky break energized the Zephyrs and they took the lead 2-1 just minutes later on a screened shot from the point. Just a minute later the Spiders knotted it up again on a screened shot by Doug Thorson that deflected off Josh Cagle’s breezers and off the post.

Later in the period Josh Cagle scored again as he collected a puck off the board and beat the goalie with a wrister in the corner. Just over a minute later the Spiders took advantage of a Zephyrs penalty to extend the lead to 4-2 as Dave Schliesman scored his second goal of the season with assists to Jim Maietta and Tim Stalpes.

While the 4-2 lead entering the third period seemed comfortable, back-to-back penalties by Matt Adelmann and Jim Maietta gave the Zephyrs 1:56 of 5-on-3 power play. They were able to capitalize to close to 4-3. A short time later another Spiders penalty gave the Zephyrs another power play. A seemingly harmless centering pass was deflected by Cagle and past Dow to tie the game at 4-4.

Not to be outdone, one of the Zephyrs defensemen deflected a puck past their goaltender to give the Spiders a 5-4 lead. After yet another penalty, the Spiders penalty kill held strong to preserve the lead. A late flurry by the Zephyrs was turned away and the Spiders came away with the 5-4 win.

The level of difficulty of the win was high as the Spiders racked up four penalties in the third period. On the bright side, the Spiders showed some punch on the power play and controlled play for much of the game.

Next up for the Spiders is a match against the Northern Horde. The Northern Horde are new to C2 after being promoted from D1 and are 1-2 on the season. The game is at New Hope South on Saturday at 9:30 p.m.