Spiders hunt big game, come up empty ... again

Dec. 23, 2012

Another game against the Moose, another loss, this time 3–2. But at least the Spiders implemented two pieces of their “strategy” in this final game of 2012: They stayed out of the box, and they stayed in the game until late in the third.

Coming up against the Moose juggernaut, last year’s C3 champs, it seems unlikely anyone will catch the now 8–1 team, their lone defeat to the Fighting Saints, and otherwise posting a scoring differential of 46–16 in their eight wins.

Meanwhile, the Spiders have only math to thank that they still technically hold on to fourth place in C3 East, having dropped the last three consecutive games, and dropping under .500 for the first time since Nov. 19, 2011. That drop lasted just a week. The last sustained sub-.500 run was the dismal start of the 2009–10 season, where the Spiders went 2–6 before the holiday break. That season, it was another juggernaut — the Chaos — that ruled the top spot throughout the season, finishing 17–2–1, as well as taking home some hardware for the third year in a row.

Back to the game, which was the second half of a Spider away-and-away double-header on the BIG 3 Olympic ice. In the earlier game, the C1 squad held the new-to-C1 Puck Hounds at bay, winning 6–4. C1 starter Cory Vandenberghe got a helper in that game, as a warm-up to the late game subbing with the C3 squad.

Early scoring by Schwinn (13:26 of the first; helper to Berman) and late scoring by Johnson (1:00 left in third) bookended the Moose’s three markers.

In the Stats department, the Spiders were in the holiday giving spirit, allowing a season-high shots against (35), a number not reached since Nov. 22, 2009, and were held to just 21 shots on goaltender Resch, one shot off the Spiders’ season low (incidentally 20 vs. the Moose in November).

Lifetime, the Spiders have yet to solve the mystery of the Moose, now 0–3 including last year’s lone matchup.

So, the Spiders will take their 4–5 record on holiday hiatus and hope they accomplish their new year’s resolution to get back in the win column in January. It won’t be a cake–walk, as it’s the second-place Mastodons, who have been doing some juggernauting of their own, going 7–2 so far. The good news, those two losses came at the hands of the Moose and … the Spiders.

Happy holidays from the Spiders, and head to Richfield Wednesday, Jan. 2, at 9:15 to catch the Spiders vs. Mastodons.