Spiders Pour On The Offense – Beat Roadrunners 10-4

Dec. 19, 2011

The high-scoring forward line of Stalpes, Cagle, and Stalpes…

The shutdown D pair of Hilden and Bedessem…

What’s that? You’re not familiar with these Spiders lines? Well, the 5 lucky die-hards who showed up on Sunday night at Breck Arena got to experience these confusing pairings. Luckily, the odd combinations were the result of a Spiders 10-4 blowout over the Roadrunners.

The Spiders entered the game very familiar with the Roadrunners as they have been division opponents four of the last five seasons. In addition, former D1 Spider all-stars Jake Cison and Travis Fransen have joined up with the Roadrunners this season.

The Spiders had momentum early with Doug Thorson and Chris Stalpes scoring to give the Spiders a 2-0 lead just minutes into the game. The Spiders dominated the first period, outshooting the Roadrunners 23-10, but two defensive miscues resulted in a 2-2 tie at the end of the frame.

The second period was when the Spiders offensive juggernaut really got rolling. Brian Armagost, Aaron Bedessem (twice), Chris Stalpes (twice more), and Jay Hilden (twice) all scored to break the game open. The score after two periods was 9-2.

The third period brought some imaginative line juggling as the Spiders started to call off the dogs. A power play goal by captain Dave Schliesman and two Roadrunner goals brought the game to an end at 10-4.

The Stalpes Brothers celebrated the return of Tim’s step-daughter Sam back to Minnesota with an offensive barrage. Chris tallied three goals and 2 assists for a team-high five points. Tim added four asists, including primary assists on all three of little bro’s goals.

Spiders netminder Brian Dow was heard complaining of a lack of action after the game. Rumors were floating that he may be suffering from a slight case of frostbite on his feet, but with the long layoff over the holidays he’s not expected to miss any time.

The Spiders put 61 shots on former franchise-mate Travis Fransen. We’re waiting from confirmation from the Spiders historian but this appears to be a team record, surpassing the 58 shots on goal from January 9, 2010, against the Dragons.

Although the final score was lopsided, the Roadrunners deserve a lot of credit for skating hard and keeping it clean. Teams with lesser character would have given up and started taking cheap shots as the game got out of hand. Well played, Roadrunners.

The Spiders will take the holidays off and return to the ice on Sunday, January 8 against the Norsemen. The Norsemen moved down to C2 from C1 this season and are definitely in the playoff picture. The AHA has scheduled this game for the historic State Fair Coliseum because of expected high ticket demand.