Spiders lose again...

Dec. 27, 2015

Another week, another short bench, another hot goalie and/or cold shooting, another loss…

Injuries, holiday plans, and a few late cancellations left the Spiders with only 9 skaters for the second straight game. The Landsharks countered with a comparatively more manageable 10 skaters as at least they had two full lines.

The Spiders controlled play through most of the first period but the Landsharks took advantage of a few bounces to take a 2-0 lead. Justin Stone halved the deficit early in the second period as he knocked in a rebound but the Spiders could get no closer. The Landsharks added an empty net goal late in the third to make the final score 3-1.

If we’re looking for positives the Spiders played well despite a short bench the last two games. The Spiders are on an unprecedented run of hot opposing goalies and/or cold shooting. During the 5 games losing streak, the Spiders are scoring on just 5.49% of their shots. Expanded to the season as a whole the Spiders are scoring on only 8.59% of their shots. The B3 West shooting average is 12.64% with Battle Cats leading the way at 17.08%. The Spiders have scored 25 goals on the season and with division average shooting percentage that total would increase to 35 goals scored.

Some of this statistical anomaly is luck and should (hopefully) even out but some comes down to shot quality as well. So the Spiders need to hope Martin Brodeur starts spending his retirement in other ways than disguised as an AHA B3 goalie and also start creating traffic and crashing the net.

As the Spiders turn the page on 2015 they kick off the new year against the Chaos on January 3rd. The Spiders convincingly beat the Chaos 6-2 in the season opener.