Spiders commit airway robbery, come from behind to beat Wingmen 3–2 in last 25 seconds

April 8, 2011

Perfect setup from Droullard to Ungaro seals the deal, steals the game.

The large and noisy crowd — estimated to be at least 50 by the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau — got to see a barnburner, as exciting of a D1 hockey game this entire season.

Back on the BIG 3 Olympic sheet ice, though in far more “grainy” condition than earlier in the week, the Spiders took to the ice to face the Wingmen in the second round robin playoff game, and mark the beginning of the AHA playoff weekend hockey marathon.

The Spiders dressed a full 17 skaters in an attempt to stave off the always competitive Wingmen, who were backed by former Spider netminder Jeff Keacher, who is enjoying a career season, and along with the rest of the Wingmen, planned to do his best to spoil the undefeated season of the Spiders, and keep playoff advancement hopes alive.

The Rob Little-coached Wingmen implemented their game plan perfectly. They held the Spiders to just five shots in the first period, with nary a puck finding its way through to Keacher thanks to the solid Wingmen backcheck. And while the Wingmen offense only registered three shots on Spider goalie Fransen, they made one of them count, ringing up a power play goal with 5:28 left on the first period clock. That’s how the first ended, Spiders down 1–0.

In the second period, the Spider offense was able to generate a few more shots than the first, mostly when the Wingmen forgot to put out a fifth skater when at full strength. But Keacher had an answer for everything that came his way, and was stingy on the rebounds. The nine shots by the Spiders resulted in another zero on the BIG scoreboard for the home team. The Wingmen got five shots through the Spiders’ backcheckers, though Fransen was perfect on all of them.

The second intermission had the BIG crowd wondering if this was in fact the end of the Spiders’ run. Despite generating chances, nothing was getting by Keacher, meaning the third was going to be desperation mode for the Spiders.

Some quick line shuffling at the bench, and the Spiders headed back to the choppy ice for the third, with the 1–0 score blaring off the scoreboard, reminding the Spiders it was now or never. LW Jason Freed decided it was now, as he made his way up the left boards into the Wingmen zone, and did what the Spiders hadn’t done all night, get a goal. His shot from just inside the blueline found the far corner, and got the Spiders back in the game. Assists to Flannery and, in his second assist of the year, Travis Fransen!

With 15 minutes left in the game, the Spider bench sighed in relief, but knew the night wasn’t over. Sure enough, six minutes later, the Spider bench was stunned when on the power play, the Wingmen pulled back ahead on a perfect slot setup, scored by Unwin landing flat on his back. Wingmen 2–1 with 9 minutes remaining.

The Spiders continued to generate chances, including some wide-open nets on broken backchecks, but none would find its way to the twine. Even on the power play, as Johnson and Schuster became adept at drawing, the Spiders couldn’t get the puck behind Keacher.

Finally, a slow-motion play in the Wingmen zone, with a pass from behind by Vandenberghe, to Yard, who set up Cison in the left slot, who waited out the goalie, and snapped it home, the Semper Fi line strikes again, tying the game back up with just under four minutes remaining.

This time it was the Wingmen who were stunned, and asked for video review from the AHA-assigned officiating crew. Yes, that officiating crew, with which Spider fans are long familiar.

The Wingmen called a timeout to regroup, knowing that their post-season advancement hopes were now on the line. Granted a special three-minute timeout, as the officiating crew forgot to blow their whistle, the well-rested teams came back out, strategy in hand.

A tie for the Wingmen would mean early summer, as only the two points would get them back in the D1 running. For the Spiders, a tie would mean knotting up the standings with the Diablos, who had beat the Chaos earlier tonight 4–1 on the same ice sheet.

In the first playoff game, gametime decision Schuster was the one who netted the game-winning goal. This week, it was gametime decision Nick Ungaro, who took a giftwrap pass from below-the-goal line RW Rob Droullard, who sent the puck across the slot to the waiting Ungaro, who had the biggest net he’d ever seen, and filled it with his one-timer. With 25 seconds on the clock, the BIG crowd let out a roar and banged their cowbells (cowbells?) in amazement that the Spiders had just gone ahead 3–2.

For the ensuing faceoff, the Wingmen pulled Keacher for a sixth attacker. The puck made its way to the neutral zone boards in front of the Spiders’ bench, where Vandenberghe and Litton went to work tying up the puck, eating a full 10 seconds off the clock before the ref whistled the play, and suggested to the Wingmen’s Unwin that he might consider keeping his elbows a little lower.

On the next faceoff, the Wingmen won it, but coughed it up as they entered the Spider zone. Pettengill controlled it in the corner in time to tick off the final seconds. When the BIG 3 ailing buzzer made choked its horn out, the Spiders celebrated their biggest win — and hugest comeback — of the season.

Congrats go out to the Wingmen, who played a very solid game, and had the Spiders on the ropes most of the 51 minutes.

Lifetime, it’s now the Spiders with the slight advantage on the Wingmen: 2–1–1–1.

With the win, the Spiders still control D1 Pool C, with four points, a point ahead of the Diablos, which is the team the Spiders will face off against next. A Spider tie or win keeps the lock on the pool, whereas a Diablo win moves them ahead in the standings, and puts the Spiders into the wildcard pool, where the top non-pool-winning team of all three pools advances, relying on all the tiebreaker rules.

The Spiders and Diablos have met in big games before, and tomorrow is sure to be one of the biggest. Head to SLP at noon to see how it turns out.