Fighting Piranhas outlast Spiders in shutout, 2–0

Nov. 22, 2009

Scoring for the Spiders tonight:

Now that that’s out of the way, the Spiders still played a great game, backed by unbelievable goaltending to keep it close. The Fighting Piranhas, coming into tonight at 3–1, are an offensive juggernaut, with a D1 West-leading 22 goals for in the first three games, and were last year’s D1 West champs, ousted in the semi-final by the Diablos (who went on to lose to the Spiders in the championship). The Spiders, at 1–2, had a full bench tonight for the first time this season, running 3 forward lines and 3 D lines.

That bench couldn’t believe it was still a 0–0 game in the waning minutes of the second period. Having been outshot 25–15, the Spiders’ backchecking and the lack of rebounds given up by Obermoller meant a deadlock between the two teams.

The first breakaway of the game, with just over two and a half minutes left in the second, was chased down by defenseman Luke Baker, who was called for tripping as the Piranha did his best to demonstrate what the tripping rule should look like. With 1:17 remaining, the Piranhas got their Power Play goal to break the deadlock.

Much like the rest of the game, the third period was tight, both teams getting their share of chances, only to be denied by stingy goaltending on both ends of the rink. Then, with just over two and a half minutes left in the third, defenseman Jeremy Litton got called in the corner for getting held and yanked down (tripping). The drawing Piranha admitted as much, as he knew he got away with one. The ref, when informed, also admitted as much. And admitted it again at 1:17 remaining of the game, as a left-point shot found its way to the back of the net for the Piranhas’ second PPG.

The Spiders did pull the goalie with a minute left, for a faceoff in the Piranha zone, but a final interference penalty against John Pellicci got Amber back on the ice for the remaining 45 seconds of PK.

And that’s where it ended, final score: 2–0.

With that 20-shot second period, the Piranhas ended up with a whopping 38 (actual) shots on goal (7, 20, 11). The Spiders managed 24 (8 7, 8).

The Spiders drop to 1–3, and whether they hold their 8th place slot (of 11) will be determined by the weekend’s other D1 West games. The Fighting Piranhas improve to 4–1, tied for second place with the Fighting Ice Fish, who beat the previously undefeated Wingmen on the Eden Prairie 2 ice sheet right before the Spiders game. Lifetime record against the Fighting Piranhas (whom the Spiders last faced in 2007–08): 1–5.

Following the Thanksgiving break, the Spiders return to action Dec. 6, against the 2–3 Diablos.

Lone game photo, is actually a post-game first-aid photo, showing how dangerous the referee position can be.