Spiders maroon Maroons win streak in OT

Dec. 18, 2010

Game recap by C. Yard

The Spiders made the trek over to the always bitter-cold and poor-ice West Side arena. They took on the Maroons for the first time this season. The game would turn into a real nail-biter as the Spiders eke out a win in overtime.

Spiders winger Cory “10 Minutes Late” Vandenberghe would eventually make it to the rink, but due to his tardiness, was immediately sent to the penalty box. The Spiders penalty killers got out there and did their job as goaltender Travis Fransen would make some great saves to keep the Maroons from getting on the board first.

Things were looking up for the Spiders; an effective penalty kill is sometimes hard to come by.

There wouldn’t be a lot of action on the scoreboard through the first period until the Spiders would get a power play. Unfortunately, as the Spiders organization is familiar with, having a man advantage is sometimes detrimental to on-ice cohesion. The Maroons would take the lead on a short-handed goal with 1:09 left in the first period.

The Spiders would get another power play in the second period a la checking from the Maroons. This time, no mistakes were made. Spiders’ point leader Jake Cison lined up his powerful slap shot and put one on net. The Maroons netminder thought he had it, but it squeezed through the pads and just made it over the line. The score was knotted up at 1’s, but not for long.

Spiders defenseman Chris Pettengill would be called for hooking and the penalty kill would once again take the ice. A costly turnover by the Maroons as time expired to Pettengill’s penalty gave Spiders’ Dave Schuster the puck and a passing lane to find Cody Yard streaking across center ice behind the Maroons’ defensemen. Yard was able to make a move and put the puck in the back of the net putting the Spiders up 2-1.

The Maroons would make the score 2-2, beating Fransen again with a shot from the high-slot area.

The Spiders started the third period with a man advantage. The power play was looking great as they took control of the puck in the offensive and made some great passes. Eventually, Chris Flannery and Pettengill would find Schuster for his third goal of the season.

Holding onto the lead, the Spiders implemented a dump-and-chase strategy. An aggressive forecheck would land Spiders center Tim Wahlberg in the penalty box with 3:19 left. Another great penalty kill would keep the Maroons from tying it up. The light at the end of tunnel was there for the Spiders. They would finish out the period on a power play and continue the perfect season. However, the dreaded man-advantage for the Spiders would give the Maroons Andy Baird a breakaway and he would tie the game. With 58 seconds left on the clock, the Spiders would try to score, but to no avail. The game was headed into overtime.

The overtime period would be five minutes of running time, per AHA rules. The Spiders would use more than three and a half of those minutes before Chris Flannery would snipe the top shelf and give the Spiders the win. Schuster and Wahlberg get the assists.

Shots ended about even, with Fransen seeing 30, stopping 27, and the Maroons’ Filter seeing 33, stopping 29.

Tonight’s game was special for one Spider. Quietly celebrating his 100th career game was defenseman Paul LaCosse. LaCosse has been quiet all season in the statistics of Penalties in Minutes, with zero. He’s been instructed to see the team’s trainer for antibiotics for this illness. LaCosse is usually in contention for team leader in PIMs.

The Spiders have a day off and then head to Richfield to battle their biggest rival — the Chaos. The Spiders beat the Chaos in their first matchup this year, in West Side and in the same fashion — an overtime win.