Spiders make it four in a row on Hockey Weekend Across America

Feb. 20, 2016

Short-handed Spiders beat shorter-handed Northern Horde 7–3 on McCormick’s 100th career Spider game.

Another Saturday night game, this one smack in the middle of the biggest celebration of Minnesota’s hockey heritage taking place at TCF Bank: the North Stars/Blackhawks Old Timers game. Instead, the Spiders (at least 12 skaters of them) ... who play an Old Timers game every week ... headed to Richfield for the third week in a row, looking to capitalize on three wins in a row.

Unlike some other teams in town, it didn’t take a coaching change, but the Spiders somehow figured out how to turn their fortunes, and after eight consecutive games of bad (or worse) puck luck, suddenly the Spiders have everything going their way.

While the Spiders had 12 in the lineup, the last-place Northern Horde could only piece together nine skaters. They’ve gone five in a row now without a win, their last coming against the Les Etoiles Du Nord in late December.

The Spiders tried to pace themselves, to ensure they had the legs to last the full 51 minutes knowing the Horde could tire out. Instead, the scoring started early, and came often. First, Berman (from McCormick), then Fritz for his first of the season (from Johnson and Sutton). A power play goal by the Horde cut lead in half, but Noreen scored off the ensuing center ice faceoff to make it 3–1 after one.

In the second, it was a goaltender’s duel, with both goalies shutting everything down with quality saves, the loan offensive tally by Grotbeck from Droullard and LaCosse (for Paul’s first point of the season).

In the third, following a “rocket” from the high slot by Droullard for his first of the season, from a perfect setup by Grotbeck to make it 5–1, the Spiders apparently forgot to pace themselves, and two quick goals by the Horde made it 5–3. But after that, McCormick shut everything down. On the other end though, a mystery goal by Pappone (from Sutton) made it 6–3, and Bredael capped the night with an empty netter with 29 seconds on the clock.

Final score: 7–3 Spiders. And time for the Spiders to celebrate Bill McCormick’s milestone.

That’s 100 games in a Spider sweater for Bill (99 for C3, and one for the then-B3 Spiders). Since joining the team in 2011–12, after an already storied AHA career with the C2 Saints, and before that the D1 Buccaneers (with Droullard and former Spiders Pettengill and Ungaro), Bill becomes the first D2/D1/C3 Spider netminder to reach the century mark. He’s amassed a 44–48–6–2 record, with five shutouts, and an .872 save percentage with a 3.4 GAA. And this season, he’s on an offensive tear, setting the D2/D1/C3 Spider record not only for career assists, but a franchise record for assists in a season, at four (and counting).

Standings watch

With the fourth win in a row, the Spiders improve to 6–9 on the season, though still in 6th place in C3 South, while the Horde remain in 8th at 3–12. In the playoff race, there’s still a long way to go, and only five games to get there. With just two wildcard spots in all of C3, there are at least seven teams the Spiders would need to jump ahead of just to get in the wildcard picture. With the bottom two teams already eliminated, that leaves 13 teams vying for two spots, and the Spiders are closer to the bottom of the list than the top. Stranger things — and AHA math — have happened in the past, but even a run of the table by the Spiders would end in 22 points, meaning the top teams only have to win two or two and a half games to put the Spiders out to pasture (or the golf course).