Spiders a step, and a goal, behind Wingmen ... again

Feb. 12, 2012

Despite an early lead, the wheels came off in the third period, as the Wingmen shut down the Spiders when it counted, and hand the Spiders a 5–4 loss.

Though the Spiders (17 pts; 8–4–0–1) were just a game behind the Wingmen (19 pts; 9–3–0–1) in the standings, the Wingmen were coming off a pre-Super Bowl loss to the surging Ak Bars (three wins in a row to climb over the Fighting Ice Fish and Lakers, out of the donut doghouse), and were suitably prepared for the game thanks to their coaching staff.

The Spiders — facing a farm team schedule conflict — and also without the services of newly-returned-from-injury Mike Johnson, who was a last-minute scratch, were coming off a 5–2 win over the Diablos last week, and dressed 13 skaters tonight.

The first period was an up-and-back affair, until with just three minutes remaining, team-leading goal-scorer Dave Schuster advanced his stat lead, with assist to Rob Droullard, and got the Spiders on the board first.

The Wingmen immediately answered back off the ensuing faceoff, as a failed defensive clearing attempt off the draw led to a three-on-two opportunity, and the Wingmen’s Murphy went top shelf corner over goalie Bill McCormick’s shoulder to tie it back up.

Just like the Wingmen, the Spiders answered back quickly as well. Just under two minutes renaming, Mike Schroeder, who had moved up to wing for the night, put a puck with eyes from the circles to the bottom-right corner of the net to beat the Wingmen’s netminder Latack. Assists to Schwinn and Pappone, and a 2–1 lead in the first.

The first-period scoring wasn’t done, however. Following a D-to-Freed-to-Schuster breakout from behind the Spider net in the final seconds of the first, the highlight-reel goal of the season came from a streaking Cory Vandenberghe, who took a pass in the neutral zone from Schuster, and cut in across the blueline, fired the puck at Latack, who got a piece of rubber with his skate. But Cory showed his nose for the net, showed his body the ice, as he dove for the loose puck sitting just off the goalie’s skate. He got clobbered by the Wingmen’s backchecker for the effort, but as he banged against the rear boards, the ref signaled a goal, and a 3–1 Spider lead to close out the first.

The open 10 minutes of the second period returned to the up-and-back C3 hockey of the first period. But by midway through the second period, the 10-day break due to the Super Bowl seemed to catch up with the Spiders’ legs, but not with the Wingmen, who had played on Saturday.

Defensive breakdowns, winded backchecks, the requisite LaCosse penalty (the only whistle of the game), and curiously absent whistles after frozen pucks gave the Wingmen back a solid lead.

At 6:20 of the second, the phone lines to Toronto were busy, so video review wasn’t available to determine how many minutes after the whistle the puck came out from under McCormick’s pad to slide across the red line. Even the Wingmen had turned away for the faceoff, assuming it was frozen. But the ref in the corner was adamant, “No, I’m sure I saw it go in.”

Closing out the second, the Spiders PK went to work, and went off 40 seconds into the third, as the Wingmen tied up the game at 3 apiece.

At 12:54, another strange-even-for-the-AHA goal, a falling Spider D-man at the Wingmen point led to a three-on-one back into the Spider zone. McCormick was solid for the save. However, the Wingmen forechecker wisely collected the puck behind the net, and wisely went for the only play he had: flinging it at the back of McCormick’s leg, where it somehow spun off and landed square on the goal line. Close enough for the refs to call it a goal. Spiders management has pored over the Rule 614(a) looking for a loophole:

A goal shall be scored when the puck shall have been put between the goal posts by the stick of a player of the attacking team, from in front and below the cross bar, and entirely across the goal line.

Now a goal — and a step or two — behind, desperation started to show.

But the Spiders got some life, after defenseman Jeremy Litton pinochled a point puck that bounced off no fewer than four butts, sticks and skates to find the back of the net, and tie the game at 4:43 remaining. Assists to Schroeder and Droullard. It’s Litton’s first goal (for) this season.

The celebration wouldn’t last long, as the puck still had its eyes firmly affixed 30 seconds later, following a Spider zone faceoff, the puck flipped off Grotbeck’s shoulder and landed behind McCormick. Fritz dove to block the still puck, attempting to execute rule 612(c)...

No defending player, except the goalkeeper, shall be permitted to fall on the puck or hold the puck or gather the puck into the body or hands when the puck is within the goal crease.

... But the ensuing scrum had it sneak under, giving the Wingmen an immediate return of the lead.

The Spiders continued to to put the pressure on, mounting scoring chance after scoring chance, with almost-game-tying shots by Pettengill, Vandenberghe and Freed. The Wingmen called a timeout to regroup. The strategy worked, as they began to control the game again. A whistle at 1:03 gave the Spiders the opportunity to pull the goalkeeper, and add the extra attacker. Despite numerous chances, the Wingmen put up a wall around the net, and nothing got through. One more surge, then a clear in the waning seconds right next to Schroeder’s kneepad, and that was all she wrote. Spiders lose by one: 5–4.

The Spiders also lost in the shot-totals column … by one. The Spiders put 25 on Latack’s net (8, 7, 10), and the Wingmen put 26 on McCormick (9, 9, 8).

Standings

The Wingmen take the regular-season series with tonight’s loss and the season-opening OT loss to the Wingmen. Lifetime with the Wingmen, the Spiders are now 2–2–1–2.

And in the standings, the Wingmen will hold their lock on second place (21 pts; 10–3–0–1), a point behind the idle Puck Hounds.

The Spiders, meanwhile, will be lucky to hold onto a top-6 spot, having been tied with the Nighthawks (17 pts; 8–4–1–0) for third, but the Moose (16pts; 8–5–0–0) and Fighting Saints (15 pts; 7–5–1–0) staring straight up and a potential to tie or jump ahead.

Next up

And banging on the playoff door is the Royals, jumping up from seventh place (week 13: 14 pts; 7–6–0–0) to 5th place thanks to a 2–1 defeat of the Diablos Sunday night (week 14: 16 pts; 8–6–0–0). Meaning for them, their next opponent on the schedule … the Spiders … is an opportunity to leapfrog in the standings.

The previous meeting led to the Spiders’ first victory of the 2011–12 season, a 5–3 win.

Puck drops 9:30 p.m. next Sunday back at the Coliseum.