Spiders clamp down Ice Gators, advance to D1 final

April 4, 2009

The Spiders took advantage of their lengthy eight-hour rest to skate (on “rugged” ice) to victory and shut out the Ice Gators, 3–0.

The Spiders crowd who negotiated the sleet and overflowing BIG parking lot tonight saw the weary Spiders take over the D1 Pool Championship game with determination. Having just played the night before against the Ice Gators, where the Spiders won 4–2, plus having played round three this morning, both teams needed to find a way to win on no rest, or end up going home for a long rest.

The Spiders took the BIG 2 ice and practically fell over, as it was about as smooth as a sheet of loose gravel. But the Spiders weren’t going to let bad ice get in the way of the game, even though it meant they would be playing a good portion of it from their derrieres.

This morning’s 11 and 1/3 bench turned into 12 2/3, with Eric “Quadrathlon” Ackermann taking one for the team (and the other team), playing in parts of four games today, and playing through two periods tonight before heading to Breck to netmind for the D2 Maroons game.

Onto the game, the Spiders got the lead at 11:37 of the first period, with Ryan Herman nailing a Baker/Johnson rebound. “That was easy,” remarked Ryan. Numerous not-so-easy chances later, with Ice Gators sub goalie Eric Kellenberger sealing up the net, Nick Ungaro took Chris Pettengill’s pass home, and put the Spiders up 2–0. A earlier penalty, at 10:26, also gave the Spiders an uneventful man advantage. The penalty was eventful though, as the Ice Gators’ Enright took Aaron “Hey, I just draw penalties” Bedessem hard into the back boards, who caught the top of the dasher in just the right spot.

A second period noted only by the penalties, one on Jay Hilden, and two against the Gators, including one drawn by Hilden trying to split three backcheckers, didn’t result in power play success for either team.

In the third, with Ackermann’s departure up Highway 100, the bench shrunk, and shrunk again as center Chris Pettengill went out with an undisclosed “lower body” injury. He’ll be nursing that injury on the DL for the remainder of the season, joining Brad Caron and Paul LaCosse on the at-capacity bench coaching staff. The remaining 11 Spiders played shutdown, though sluggish hockey. A slashing penalty to the Gators’ center K. Spurgeon gave the Spiders another power play, albeit brief, as 32 seconds into it, a breaking Gator was winning the race to the puck against the tired Spider D legs. Amber smartly raced to the puck and covered it, albeit at the top of the circles, and was called for her first penalty of the season, for Delay of Game, served by center Mike Johnson.

The remainder of the third saw plenty of up-and-back, and loose pucks. With just under two minutes remaining, the Ice Gators called time out and pulled their goalie to try to save their season and claw back from the their two-goal deficit. It didn’t take long, however, for defenseman Luke Baker to gain control and dish to Aaron Bedessem, who nailed the empty net to give the Spiders a three-goal lead. The netminder back in, the Spiders turned away every Gator push, dumping and changing to run out the clock.

And with their last bit of energy, the Spiders celebrated their D1 Pool semi-finals win and fourth Obermoller shutout of the season.

Shots on goal tonight, a slight increase from this morning’s meager action, were 34 for the Spiders (16, 10, 8), and 15 for the Ice Gators (5, 6, 4).

The AHA’s Pete Morrow conducted the trophy ceremony in the dressing room, congratulating the Spiders on their victory and doling out the hardware. Plus, he officially notified the Spiders that they had earned the league tournament credit, meaning the Spiders can participate in future tournament of their choice, on the league’s bill. (This is because USAH is not sponsoring an adult-level rec tournament this year.)

No rest (well, at least one night’s rest), as the Spiders head back to BIG to play the D1 Pool B champion, none other than the D1 East Diablos, who have gone 3–1 in that pool. The Diablos lost earlier today to the first-seed Fighting Piranhas, but pulled out the win in the semi-final tonight when it counted, winning 3–1. They have been running a long bench, though will be without the services of former Spider Dave Schaefer, who is on their DL with a “lower body” injury.

The last time the Spiders and Diablos met was the last game of the regular season, and also the last Obermoller shutout. For the season, the Spiders have gone 2–0–1 with the Diablos.

D1 Championship: 2 p.m. at BIG 1.

Game media

The Spiders bench.

A first period faceoff.

Perfect draw from Bedessem (13) to Vandenberghe (82) in the second period, who nailed it five hole, barely stopped by the Ice Gators’ Kellenberger.

Mike Johnson (42) takes the draw, with Ryan Herman (4) and Nick Ungaro (19).

Spiders win 3–0!

D1 Pool Champions!

For all game photos, see the Spiders Photo Gallery.