Spiders climb back in the race with decisive 6–3 victory over penalty-prone Fighting Saints

March 11, 2012

The Fighting Saints’ collective desire to sit in the penalty box rather than skate gave the Spiders’ a record-setting opportunity.

Spiders’ fans closely watched the C3 standings last week, as the Fighting Piranhas grabbed the sixth and final playoff spot from the Spiders, thanks to the Piranhas’ win over the last-place Fighting Ice Fish, combined with the 3–2 Spider loss to the Maroons.

Sitting in 7th going into game 18, the Spiders needed a win to not only stop the winless streak that started on Feb. 10, but to keep any post-season hope alive.

The Fighting Saints started out the season strong, with four consecutive wins, only to be interrupted by the Spiders, who won 7–2 in the first meeting. Since, they’ve gone 5–7–1 and came into this week holding onto 5th place by a point.

They were slightly ahead of 5th in one column in the standings: PIMs, having reached the vaunted 100 PIM mark last week vs. the Diablos in a 3–1 loss.

And it was that stat that would be the undoing of the Fighting Saints tonight.

The Spiders started the scoring early, just over two minutes in, thanks to a tic-tac-toe play off a point-shot rebound gave the Spiders the lead, scored by George Farner, assists to Pettengill and Johnson. The post-goal celebration was too much for the Saints’ Haglind, who got himself the first two-minute sit of the game for roughing.

Early in the second, the Spiders returned the favor, with D Rick Fritz going off for tripping. Fritz didn’t get to sit his promised two minutes, as it took just 14 seconds for the Saints to capitalize and tie the game. Wanting to make sure the Saints PP wasn’t a fluke, John “Gameday” Pellicci gave them another chance, with a body check call 30 seconds later. The Spiders had finally figured out the box, and kept Pellicci sitting for two minutes. But he had a bin partner this time, with the Saints’ Seitz going off for tripping at 13:52. With Pellicci sprung at 13:17, the Saints’ Schwarzrock didn’t want Seitz to be lonely, and gave him company at 13:08 for interference, and for the Spiders first 5-on-3 opportunity since Feb. 26. This time, it took the Spiders just six seconds to capitalize, on another perfect tic-tac-toe play ending in a Schwinn bang, assists to Fritz and Pappone. Spiders 2–1.

The Saints were back in the cooler at 7:33, and at 6:28 were down by two, with emergency callup Pellicci getting his requisite score-and-go-home goal of the game, assists to Freed and Grotbeck. Spiders 3–1.

More insurance at 4:23, with team-leading goal-scorer RW Dave Schuster getting off his month-long slump, to put the Spiders up 4–1, assist to Pettengill and Farner.

In the final ticks of the second period, the Saints’ Shane Hjulberg demonstrated for the crowded Saturday night New Hope N Family Night stands what it takes to be the Saints PIM leader.

In the third, the refs decided to pocket their whistles to make sure the fans got their money’s worth of entertainment, only to somehow find them again for a Pettengill “hooking” call at 10:50.

As he exited the box, it only took 10 seconds for a Farner pass to find Pettengill, who dished to Schuster, who thrilled the crowd with his breakaway, and put the Spiders up 5–1, with his second of the night.

With whistles back in hand, the Saints’ Fye, earned the next skate of shame to the box, and generating the next (and last) Spider power-play goal, a pinching LaCosse shot from a Pettengill pass was deflected up by Farner and squeezed inside the post.

With Farner’s two goals, plus an assist, he one-upped co-sub Lavigne’s two-goal demo last week, raising the bar for the Spiders’ sub squad stat pool.

Plus, that third power play goal of the night was enough to not only almost double the Spiders’ power-play production for the season (previously 4 for 32, a measly 12.5%; now 7 for 40 – 17.5%), but to set a new team record for most power play goals in a game. The previous record was set a year ago, 3/20/2011, vs. the Puck Hounds.

In addition, the Pettengill assist was his fourth of the night, tying a team record for most assists in a game, joining Doug Thorson (11/14/2006, vs. Moose); Dave Schliesman (3/22/2007 vs. Knights); and Jake Cison (12/20/2010, vs. Chaos).

With the game “firmly” in hand, the Spiders let the last month’s bad habits reappear, with a snoozing defensive corps giving McCormick no chance to stop the Saints from making it 6–2. Following the final bin-sit of the night for the Saints, the backcheck was asleep again for the final minute of play, as the Saints snuck a forward in from the weak side to bang home a “loose” puck in the crease, with 21 seconds on the clock. But that was all the time for a comeback the Saints would have, ending in the final of 6–3.

In all, the Spiders played like a team that wants to see some April hockey instead of starting golf season in a week. With netminder McCormick putting on his own show for the New Hope crowd (which would be a doubleheader for him, as he subbed for the C2 Northern Horde on the same sheet after the Spiders game), stopping 24 of 27 (9, 9, 9). One-time Spider Eric Anderson, the Fighting Saints goaltender, had his work cut out, facing a barrage of 42 shots (12, 18, 12), stopping 36. That’s a season-high for the Spiders, eclipsing the 39-shot State Fair affair vs. the Sled Dogs in December.

Not in the official stats, but the Spiders must have set a team record for the number of times it iced the puck tonight, occasionally intentionally, frequently 10 feet off the tape, and always to the chagrin of the ref, who could be seen trying to call AHA league offices during intermission to see if NHL-style icing rules could be enforced in the game. Also not tracked, but the Spiders usual suspects seemed to draw their unfair share of penalties, with Schroeder, Schuster, the Birthday Boy #flyinggoalscorer, and Rag Doll, all dirtying up their breezers more often than usual.

Lifetime vs. the Saints, going back to 2007, the Spiders have dominated, with an 8–0 record.

Standings Watch

The win gives the Spiders a critical 20 points in the standings (9–7–1–1), and leapfrogs the Fighting Saints and the Royals for fifth place. Whether it stays that way depends on the score of the Fighting Piranhas (8–7–1–1)/Ak Bars (4–10–2–1) game from Saturday night. The Fighting Piranhas have the tiebreaker on the Spiders, and could push the Spiders to sixth with a win.

Update: The Fighting Piranhas beat the Ak Bars 2–1 in OT, so the Piranhas claim 5th place thanks to tiebreakers, and the Spiders will remain in the playoff picture in sixth.

The Puck Hounds and Wingmen have locked in their April invites, but the chase for the remaining four spots in C3 remains tight, with eight teams still in the running. Remember, for your dose of anal-stats, keep an eye on the AnalStats, which have the Spiders improving their chances for post-season play 26.1% to 86.1, much more promising than the 60.0% pegged last week.

Next up

It’s a short week for the Spiders, as they return to the ice Wednesday night for the second-to-last game of the regular season, a rematch with the last-place Fighting Ice Fish (3–14–1; 7pts), who lost 10-zip to the Diablos Saturday, albeit backed by a sub goalie.

The previous Spider/Fish game this season resulted in a 6–2 Spider win.

Puck will drop at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Breck.