Spiders come from behind again, pan Gold Rush 3–2

March 13, 2011

Duel of sub-goalies sees Spiders’ Yard come out with the win; Heitzman misses post for shorthanded game-winner.

The Spiders were all set to duel with the Gold Rush for today’s early Sunday Daylight Savings matchup, when the Spiders’ phenom rookie netminder Fransen was informed by the Spiders’ team trainer he would be an unhealthy scratch for game. A desperate scramble for a replacement came up as empty as the Spiders’ net would be until centericeman Cody Yard stepped up and donned the too-tall goalkeeper pads, a position he hadn’t played since the summer season, where he subbed five times for Amber Obermoller (going 4–1) on the Whitesnakes. Shifting Yard back to the net meant a shuffle of lines up front as AC Litton went through reams of paper trying to fill out the game lineup sheet.

Minding the other net, the Gold Rush had employed non-rostered D1 sub-goalie Kyle O’Connor, who would have scouts waiting outside the Rush’s dressing room for him after his 51-minute clinic.

Finally, at 3:20 p.m., most of the Spiders were on the ice and ready to go. However, one half of the AHA-assigned officiating crew had forgot to reset their clocks for daylight savings, and arrived fashionably late.

The Spiders got off to their customary slow start of recent weeks, and an in-the-paint rebound off Yard couldn’t be cleared by D-man Litton, and one of the Rau brothers dove to the crease and punched it in to put the Gold Rush on the board first, just 3 minutes in. See photo.

But it only took the Spiders just under two minutes to answer back, with C Chris Pettengill tying the game at the 4:38 mark, assists to Freed and Schlais.

Also on the board in the first, a Litton penalty for holding while falling, and a Gold Rush penalty for tripping … while tripping. This second one almost resulted in an additional two-minute sit thanks to the scorekeeper resetting the penalty time after the period expired.

Back at full strength in the second, the Gold Rush found enough chemistry on their gold periodic chart symbol (Au, so you don’t have to go look it up) to keep the Spiders on their heels, and just over a minute in, snuck another through a gap in Yard’s five-hole, as his pads had gotten caught on the stick going down. The Rush would take any goal though, no matter how it looked, and were up 2–1 at the 1:02 mark of the second.

Down by a goal again, the Spiders were able to continue to generate offense, but couldn’t solve the sub goalie O’Connor. Finally, midway through the period, the Rush got a hooking call, and on the subsequent power play, the Spiders knotted up the game again, with a seeing-eye wrister from the circle by Jake Cison, notching his 23rd of the season and grabbing the Spider franchise all-time goals-in-a-season record from Jim Maietta in 2006–07. Assists to Vandenberghe and LaCosse. Cison’s high-octane season continues to mow down long-standing high-water marks in the dusty annals of the Spiders’ Record Book, having last week eclipsed Dave Schliesman’s most points and most assists records, set in 2006–07.

A half-minute after the goal, Vandenberghe was called for a vicious trip (he had his stick stepped on in the neutral zone), giving the Gold Rush another power play chance, which, after it was killed, would be exchanged for a PK by the Rush, who were called for high-sticking with just under four minutes to go in the second.

Chants of “let them play” from the crowded Highland stands in the third period apparently registered with the officiating crew, as the game turned decidedly chippier, but the whistles were nowhere to be found. Of course, the subsequent “give him the gate” chant had the same effect on the refs, sending Litton to the box for his second two-minute rest of the afternoon, at the 9:13 mark. While Litton considered his deeds in the box, Heitzman single-handedly — and short-handedly — redeemed the Spiders, bringing the puck right in down the boards cutting in on the net, and banging it ... right off O’Connor’s paddle. But in an afternoon of bizarre goals, the puck found its way off the paddle and right past the goal line. Spiders up 3–2!

Not ready to go quietly, the Gold Rush had to make their penalties extremely apparent to even get noticed by the refs. And finally, with just over five minutes remaining, the Gold Rush got noticed, a blatant overhand chop to the top of Litton’s helmet, knocking him to the ice, and briefly out of the game. In the AHA.

Nonetheless, the Spiders got the man-advantage and were able to put enough pressure on to keep the Rush from returning the shorthanded favor. And finally, with just over a minute to go, the Gold Rush called their customary timeout to strategize about pulling the goalie. That gave the Spiders time to strategize as well. When the game resumed, the Spiders’ strategy apparently was better, as the Rush never cleanly gained the zone, allowing the Spiders to push the puck back to the far end a couple times, and that was enough to eat up the clock.

Spiders outlast the Gold Rush, 3–2, and put up their unprecedented 18th consecutive win.

With his first-ever AHA Winter season win, netminder Cody Yard stopped 26 of 28 shots (8, 10, 10), 0.929 save percentage. His highlight-reel save of the night came in the third, the game tied, and a Golden 2-on-1 rush, flashed his glove top corner to stop a sure-thing blast.

O’Connor on the other end got a workout himself, seeing a whopping 40 shots (11, 18, 11) and having a quick answer to most all of them.

In a penalty-filled game, conspicuously absent from the penalty box, was D-man Paul LaCosse. And thanks to an all-too-common-this-season clerical error by last week’s scorekeeper, LaCosse was not officially credited with his hooking penalty against the Royals, and therefore, in the eyes of the league, remains scot-free in the PIM column, and eligible for the league’s Lady Byng trophy at season’s end.

In the standings

With today’s win, the Spiders advance the streak to 18 wins, and already have a lock on the D1 West title. The rest of the D1 divisions are still in the midst of their playoff races, so the Spiders don’t yet know who will be on their post-season dance card.

In other D1 West action today, the Chaos made a move on the Royals, jumping to fourth by a point, thanks to the Chaos’ 4–3 OT loss to the Fighting Saints at New Hope, and the Royals coming up short against the Puck Hounds on the same Highland N ice sheet as the Spiders/Gold Rush game. Both the Chaos and Royals each have only one game remaining, the Royals vs. the Maroons, and the Chaos vs. the Ice Gators. Last night’s Maroons/Ice Gators game hasn’t hit the books yet, so the third-place Maroons may have added to their cushion, or still just one point ahead of the Chaos.

Up next for the Spiders, two meaningless-for-the-standings games against the 14–3–1 Puck Hounds, who have locked in second place of D1 West. But the games will be good tests for the post-season, and will also determine whether the streak ends before the regular season.