Spiders stop Blade Runners, Farner nets hat trick

Nov. 3, 2014

The C3 Spiders withstood a Blade Runner onslaught Monday night at Hopkins Pavilion to earn second victory of the season.

For two teams that have never faced each other, the Spiders and Blade Runners became familiar very quickly. The Blade Runners beat the Gold Rush 6–4 in their first game of the season last week, scoring five first-period unanswered goals against the former C3 champs. And after the Gold Rush stomped all over the Spiders on Saturday night 7–2, the Spiders expected an offensive onslaught from the Blade Runners.

Blade Runner defenseman #3 Byrnes set the tone with an offensive zone skating drill clinic to open the scoring 11:19 into the first. But a minute later, the Spiders answered back, with Farner tapping in from his “office,” assists to Mehling and Grotbeck.

Early in the second, the Blade Runners’ suffocating forecheck paid off, as they wore down the defense and went high over McCormick, Blade Runners up 2–1.

Six minutes later, defenseman Brad Sutton took matters into his own mitts, as he pinched a puck around the winger and down behind the net and made a perfect feed to Mike Johnson, who tied up the game 2–2. (That’s incidentally Mike’s 100th career point in a Spider sweater!)

In the third, the Blade Runners kept coming, generating chance after chance thanks to their forecheck and skill with their Nexus-6’s. But the Spiders had an answer every time, with McCormick making 12 saves in the period. At the other end of the Pavilion ice, it was the Farner and Murphy show. Two minutes into the period, Farner snapped home a Murphy rebound to put the Spiders up by one. And halfway through the third, Farner flew into the side of the net on a loose puck after a Murphy shot, and it somehow found its way under the netminder. Giving the Spiders the dreaded two-goal lead, and, as the hats rained down on the ice from the Pavilion crowd of two, Farner with his first Spiders career hat trick.

The rest of the third, the Blade Runners sent everything they had, but C3 East leading scorer #9 J. Nitz was blanked by the Spider defensive crew, despite his best effort to get “open.”

The nightcap came with just over a minute remaining, with Scott Bredael notching his first Spider goal from the slot, assist to Farner, for his fourth point of the night.

Final: 5–2

The goaltending duel between McCormick and the Blade Runners’ Carlson had each making spectacular save after spectacular save. In the end, both netminders gave their team a chance, with Carlson making 29 saves on the Spiders’ 34 shots (14, 9, 11), and McCormick getting the win, also with 29 saves, on the Blade Runners’s 31 shots (9, 10, 12).

The Spiders move back into a tie for first place with the Mastodons, though the Spiders are the only team with three games played thanks to the schedule quirks. Those quirks also have the Spiders idle for the much-needed bye week this week. The Spiders return to action Sunday, Nov. 16, against the 0–2 Nighthawks at New Hope.

It’s Mo-Time again, Spiders celebrate Movember

Once again, Spider “Mo Bros” will celebrate the month of Movember. With the facial growth spurred by David Schuster, in his fifth year of changing the face of men’s health, the Spiders encourage you to check out his Movember Mo Space before the end of the month to support men’s health.