Spiders hang on to beat Diablos 4–3, get playoff boost by IceDogs

March 16, 2013

In a testament to C3 East parity, the last-place IceDogs determined the post-season slate, though the Diablos themselves almost spoiled the Spider party.

The Spiders (10–9; 20pts., 5th place) went into Saturday night’s final regular season game at New Hope N vs. the Diablos (4–14–1; 9pts., 7th place) virtually convinced it would be the last skate of the winter season. Having lost big last week to the Fighting Saints, combined with a Sled Dogs tie of the Moose, put the Spiders on the outside looking in for a playoff spot.

Just down Highway 100 at SLP, the last-place Ice Dogs (1–17–1–0; 3pts., 8th place), who have been in the C3 cellar (and penalty box; topping all C3 with 146 PIM) all season, outscored by opponents 99–32, were the last barrier to the Sled Dogs’ nod for the fourth and final playoff spot. There are no gimme games in the AHA. But the Sled Dogs (9–7–2–1; 21 pts., 4th place) had to believe this one was already in the bank. The Spiders certainly did.

With both puck drops at 8 p.m., the Spiders wouldn’t know the Dogs outcome until after their game.

Pandemonium in the New Hope arena.

The Spiders arrived at New Hope arena to a standing ovation by a giant crowd gathered in the lobby. Were they there to encourage the Spiders and celebrate another great AHA season? No, the New Hope girls had just won a championship. The arena was decked out to the hilt, with balloons, banners, and even goal lamps for the occasion. Of course, it got very quiet once the Spiders and Diablos hit the ice, though the AHA game did draw a sizable crowd of about 15 for the Saturday evening early start.

The Spiders dressed 13 skaters, with the rest of the squad out of town (including Denver for the Wild/Avs game, Mexico for work), on IR, etc. The Diablos, however, had just 9 bodies plus a goalie. Said former Spider Dave Schaefer before the game, “Go easy on us.”

The game started out as a mirror of that Wild/Avs Saturday matinee game, with the Spiders getting up by two in the first five minutes. First by Grotbeck, unassisted, and the second by right-winger-tonight Sutton, assists to Grotbeck and back-to-D Schroeder. By the first period buzzer, Droullard added the third, assists to Johnson and Farner. The Spiders had outshot the Diablos 10–5.

Sitting comfortably with a three-goal advantage, the Spiders tossed their game plan out the window, and apparently decided to make it interesting for the New Hope fans. First, 31 seconds into the second, Schroeder’s double cheeseburger and large strawberry malt caught up with him, and he went to the box for tripping. He had only four seconds to calm his indigestion, as the game officials called a puck on the goal line a goal, despite being well out of position. Nonetheless, the Spider lead was now at two. Five minutes later, it was at one, off a deflection. With 6:37 remaining, Grotbeck got his stick stepped on, and into the box for the trip. The Spiders PK was ready for this one. But a bear hug by LaCosse in the final seconds of the period put the Diablos back on the power play.

Despite “knowing” the season was all but over, the Spiders wanted to go out on a high note, yet they spent a period allowing desperately short-benched opponent make a game out of a sure thing, outshooting the Spiders 10–9, and closing the score to one. And just 19 seconds after the third period’s puck drop, it was a game. Power play goal by the Diablos tied it at three. As the Spiders had done throughout the season, it appeared the Spiders were intent on clutching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The suspense of the tie didn’t last long though, as Mike Johnson put the Spiders back ahead a minute and a half later, assists to Schuster and first career point for McCormick.

The rest of the third was still an even-up affair, with the Diablos short bench never seeming to tire, and generating plenty of chances in the Spider zone. A late penalty put the Spiders on the man-advantage, though as usual, they should’ve declined, spending more time chasing iced pucks than in the offensive zone.

With a minute left, the Diablos pulled their goalkeeper, though never controlled in the Spider zone long enough to generate chances.

The game ended on a very similar note to last week’s Fighting Saints match though, as the defenseman on the ice, this time Mike Schroeder, was just trying to eat the puck in the defensive zone to tick off the final seconds. But facing the near half boards, was pushed in the nameplate by #37 P. Sinesio, sending Schroeder face-first into the dasher. While this time it was not malicious, the end result was again a dangerous, high-risk-of-injury play, when the game was over, in an adult rec hockey game.

The refs opted to assess a body check, listed at :02 on the scoresheet, though the remainder of the game was not played, as with last week’s :07 call.

Final score: Spiders 4, Diablos 3. Final shots were 27 for the Spiders (10, 9, 8), 19 for the Diablos (5, 10, 4).

Standings watch

With the win, the Spiders improved their record to 11–9, 22 points. While the league has been posting scores on Twitter, with all the playoff implications, the news was silent out of SLP. So the Spider crew headed to the nearby Sunshine Factory, celebrating what they assumed was the end of the season.

But, reports began to trickle in that there may have been a tie game. The Spiders were in disbelief. And quickly began doing back-of-the-bevnap calculations on the standings implications. And sure enough, at 10:20 p.m., the AHA confirmed:

“C3 Final: Sled Dogs 3, Ice Dogs 3”

Meaning both the Spiders and Sled Dogs (now 9–7–3–1) would have 22 points in the standings. As usual, AHA math comes to the rescue, and the #2 tiebreaker, number of wins in the regular season, would be the clincher.

At 10:23, the AHA replied:

“@SpidersHockey Correct, due to more wins, C3 Spiders advance to playoffs. Congrats!”

And with news, the Spiders instead celebrated their fifth consecutive playoff appearance, converting their 11.4% odds to 100% in. It’s the second consecutive year, and third all time, where the Spiders have snuck in as the final seed in the final weeks of the season.

How did the IceDogs pull it off? It’s not clear from their scoresheet, but it looks like it was at least the usual brand of IceDogs hockey rearing its head, as it did every game the Spiders played them.

Thus making their best effort to domanate the regular-season PIM leaderboard, only to be denied the crown by the Ak Bars’ usual suspect and thanks to a post-game correction change of the attempt to injure to kicking a player(?), the IceDogs wrestle the season PIM crown from the Ak Bars’ usual suspect.

Next up

As with last year’s early regular-season finale, the Spiders and the rest of the C3 East teams will wait for the C3 West’s schedule to finish up before knowing the final playoff matchups. Though not as long as last year’s 25-day hiatus until the playoffs, the 18 days until the first game offer the Spiders plenty of time to collect rust on their Bauers.

The first game will be against the Moose, who squeaked out their division title tonight vs. the Mastodons by losing in OT. Though the lone point allowed the Mastodons to tie the Moose in the standings at 33, the tiebreaker gave them the lead and first place. So congratulations to the Moose, who after winning the C3 crown last season, look poised to repeat, winning their first division title.

Puck will drop Wednesday, April 3, at Braemar W, 9:25 p.m.

Game media

Pre-game strategizing.

 

McCormick stops a point-blank shot.

Former Spider Dave Schaefer (60) takes a draw.

 

 

 

Grotbeck’s (18) trip.