Man Disadvantage

Jan. 16, 2016

The dreaded power play did in the Spiders this time, locking the 2015–16 season into the record books.

On the frozen tundra of Golden Valley in front of a sizeable Saturday evening crowd, the Spiders returned to action after a two-week bye, and opened the game with an icing, closed the game with an icing, and in between, dug a hole large enough to ensure that the eight-game losing streak is remembered for as long as the Spiders’ website is up and running.

The eighth consecutive loss ties the 2005–06 (twice) first season at D2 and 2004–05 Beginner season for longest losing streak.

The Spiders started out with an OK first, keeping the Mastodons at bay and the score close, despite getting outshot 11–4. The Mastodons got on very early, 30 seconds in, but the Spiders stayed in the game, and the lone Spider goal came just as the Mastodons’ first penalty was expiring, with Berman from Lavigne. The Mastodons added another off a LaCosse penalty for checking, and it took them 25 seconds of the man advantage to go up 2–1, with Mastodons’ leading scorer Ryan Zollman picking up the goal.

The second period was a different story.

Even if the Spiders were able to somehow salvage the game, this game would’ve been in the record books regardless. The previously mentioned hole in the ice was dug on a double minor drawn by a Berman breakaway in the second period, putting a complaining Mastodon in the box for four minutes. Which was the signal for the Spiders to begin their Tape-To-Tape-Turnover™ formation. A minute into the first power play, a blueline turnover ended up at the other end of the ice and into the net. With 15 seconds remaining though, the Spiders showed some life and answered back, with Kevin Noreen notching his second as a Spider. But sure enough, into the second power play, the Mastodon neutral zone pressure forced a turnover and made a 2-on-1 into yet another shorthanded goal. And yet another entry into the record book, tying up the previous mark set on March 22, 2015, against the … Mastodons?

Shortly after the double minor fiasco, the Spiders headed back to the box themselves, as Sutton was called for checking as he was knocked to the ice by a Mastodon and required medical attention by Dr. Droullard, who was not making house calls from Colorado. On the ensuing power play, the Mastodons’ leading scorer Ryan Z notched his second of the night, giving the Mastodons the dreaded three-goal lead with half a game to go. And as the minutes ticked away in the second, the Mastodons put the game even more out of reach, building a 7–2 lead. Somehow the Spiders were able to interrupt the Mastodons’ trampling, with the other Lavigne (Grotbeck) from Berman scoring with 32 seconds to go. With a five-goal deficit, the Spiders did play a relatively good third period, outshooting the Mastodons 9–6, but the only Mastodon tally coming on what the ref would later term a “missed” penalty on the Mastodons. Not that it would matter. With five minutes remaining, the Spiders did get another notch behind Flesher, with a pretty passing play started by Jason Freed, who changed too quickly to get the “plus” as Fritz to Johnson to Bredael at the back door cut the Mastodons’ lead to four.

The rest of the team’s combined plus/minus on the night was lower than the frigid Minnesota temperatures outside (and in the dressing room). And McCormick, despite making some spectacular saves, got too much help by his team once again, with the Spiders getting an unrecorded assist (or three) on the Mastodons’ markers.

Final score: 8–4, and final shots 28–21.

This is a team that has always had the Spiders’ number, amassing a lifetime record of 5–1, including the two shutouts last season, and a 30–15 scoring advantage in those six games. Add in the summer league games against Mastodon-based teams, and the Mastodon advantage stretches to 9–2–2 with three shutouts. The lone victory for the Spiders came way back in 2012, a 5–0 shutout, McCormick’s first as a Spider. And the Mastodons have been making the Spiders pay ever since.

Tonight’s loss further solidifies the Spiders’ lock on last place, a game behind the Northern Horde (3–8; 6pts.), and two and a half games behind the Fighting Loons (4–6–1; 9 pts.), whom the Spiders face in a week, with another Saturday night game back at Breck. The previous Loon game went the way of the bird call, a 6–5 loss in November.

Puck drops at 9:30 Saturday night at Breck.