Spiders shut down, shut out Marauders on opening night

Oct. 26, 2014

The C3 Spiders opened their 11th season of AHA hockey with an 8–0 victory, with McCormick getting the first opening-night shutout in team history.*

The C3 Spiders bucked the trend of opening-night disappointments over the last decade — amassing an unimpressive 2–6–1–1 in knock-the-rust-off games since 2004–05. Plus, Spider veteran goalie Bill McCormick notched the first opening-night shutout in B/D2/D1/C3 team history (* Brian Dow — with help of Derk Jacobson — of the C2/C1/B3 Spiders did the same in 2012–13).

The crowd of four (occasionally five) at Wakota Arena 2 were on the edge of their bleacher seats in the first period, as both teams played even-up on the inexcusably poor ice, with just a couple of Spider penalties getting on the scoresheet. The stalemate was broken with 44 seconds to go in the first period by David Schuster coming off the bench to grab a loose puck in the corner, and sending it with eyes from behind the goal line against the sub goalie Matt Zarras’ leg and into the net. Assist to Grotbeck.

Other than a “sure thing” by Henke that nudged wide (that he’ll be seeing in his dreams for days), the second period was again a stalemate until the six-minute mark, when new Spider Sean Murphy corralled a puck and sent it from the slot to put the Spiders up by 2.

The 2014–15 debut of the Flying “V” came at 4:46, with Cory Vandenberghe showing his usual prostrate prowess at the side of the net. Spiders 3–0.

The Marauders then put the Spiders on their first (and only) power play of the game, which resulted in a Paul Berman tip to put the Spiders up 4–0, assist to the backhanding Bredael and Schuster.

The third opened with an errant high stick by Brad Sutton, and the PK gave the Marauders their closest chance of the night, with a loose puck jammed against the far post by McCormick’s skate. But after the kill, the offensive barrage reemerged, with another goal each by Murphy and Schuster, followed by a far-side snipe by Mike Johnson, and capped by a blue line blast by Sutton to finish off the scoring at eight.

When the non-runtime clock expired, McCormick had the shutout, stopping all 19 Marauder shots, while Zarras had 37 shots his way.

With multipoint games by Murphy, Schuster, Mehling and Grotbeck, only Schuster earned the coveted “AHA Gordie Howe Hat Trick,” with at least a goal, and assist and a penalty. Otherwise, all but Henke and Litton notched at least a point on the scoresheet.

With a very temporary lock on C3 East first place, the Spiders will head to Aldrich on Saturday evening to take on the 0–1 Gold Rush, who lost 6–4 to the Blade Runners in their opener.

Lifetime against the Gold Rush, the Spiders are 4–2, with the first meeting last season resulting in a double disappointment.

Puck drops at 6:40 p.m.