Spiders advance to Championship

April 11, 2010

Spiders Trump Aces

The Spiders returned to the table at the Bloomington Ice Garden Rink 2 where their goal was to call the Aces and walk away with a tournament-advancing win. With the locker room full of confidence, the Spiders had stacked the deck and were confident of what hand they would be dealt. It was destiny that the Spiders cleared all the tie-breakers to advance in the newly created wildcard playoff spot.

The sunglasses were on and the Poker Faces were unleashing shot after shot on the Aces. It was clear that they were not planning on playing bridge but were playing cut throat. As the period went on, the Spiders had more cards up their sleeves than the Aces but when the period ended, the Spiders had out-bluffed their opponents significantly; however, the scoreboard still read 0-0.

Second period began with the Spiders up a man but they stumbled with a card being played that caught Dow off guard and the Aces were up 1-0. The Spiders had fallen behind in their game on Thursday and were determined that this time was going to be different. They were playing faster, stronger, and had more opportunities than they had allowed. After the deck was shuffled and things were re-dealt, the Aces found themselves holding a high-hand but Schliesman was holding the Full House. He played his hand and tied the game at 1-1. Aces responded with added pressure giving one of their last real attempts to re-gain the lead in the game. The Spider defense and back-checkers kept the shots to a minimum. Butalla muscled his way to the table and casually played his Royal Flush and put the Spiders up for good!

The third period was an almost complete domination by the Spiders. The cards they needed were well earned and yet they only yielded five shots with one true scoring chance. Bortnem’s blazing speed added the final Call when he slipped the puck in the open net. Spiders pushed away from the table having outshot the Aces 40-15 and moved on to the C2 league championship tomorrow where they will re-match the Royals who beat the Bulls in a shootout.

Attendance: 57

Game media

Armagost splits the D.

The Aces backcheckers test their goalie, with Butalla and Hilden gladly accepting the opportunity.

Tromiczak with a head of steam.

Dow makes another stop...

... And gets an early shower.

The raucous BIG 2 crowd.

Schliesman takes a shot.

Maietta on the draw.

Levin point blank on Dow.

Armagost all alone.

Bortnem learns about the new AHA standards of play.

The Spiders congratulate themselves on a C2 Pool Championship victory, and will advance to the final.

For all game photos, see the Spiders Photo Gallery.