BREAKING NEWS: Spider goes 1-1 on C3 Final Sunday!
April 11, 2016
Oh, and the Royals won the hardware.
In a surprise move on Sunday, the Spider red and white made its first appearance at BIG in two playoff seasons, as Spiders netminder Bill McCormick got the call for the Arctic Wolves. Bill took over for the Wolves goalie J. Ottum, who had only played in 9 regular season games (going 7-2), including a 2-1 win over the Spiders to close out the regular season.
Ottum played in all three round-robin games, going 2-0-1 in Pool A. But Bill subbed for the Sunday morning game, turning it into a doubleheader for the Arctic Wolves.
First up, the smell-the-coffee semi-final against the LED Nord, at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. Bill turned away 25 of 26 shots, with an all-too-familiar third-period defensive breakdown in front of him leading to the Nord’s only goal, by their leading regular-season scorer Bailly. But the Wolves’ three first period goals would stand up, and the Arctic Wolves got the invite to the BIG dance Sunday night.
Bill in net, vs. the LED Nord (Photo via LesÉtoilesDuNordHockeyClub game video)
The Royals, the number one overall seed in C3, and the only C3 team to reach 30 points in the regular season (and the only team aginst which the Spiders earned no points), went 2-1 in the round robin, the only loss coming Saturday morning to the Blade Runners in a PIM-fest (though not as PIM-festive as some of this season’s playoff games). But with the top four records advancing to the Sunday semi-final, the Royals four points were enough to advance, getting the Pool C Mosquitos. The Royals won their Sunday morning game 5-4, setting up the final of two C3 South teams.
The BIG dance was a 9 p.m. start on the Olympic sheet, and the final game of the AHA playoffs. And, as was the case in the regular season (2-1-0), the Royals would have the Arctic Wolves number. The Royals scored late in the first, early in the third, and following a Wolves’ 5-10 game misconduct for “kicking a player,” the Royals scored the dagger with 5 minutes to go. The Royals outshot the Wolves 33-23. And as the Spiders have seen when it comes to the playoffs, it’s a battle of attrition. Whichever team can last the longest with its bench in tact, can take home the hardware.
Congratulations to the Royals on winning the C3 crown. They went 13-3-4 in the regular season, finishing first overall at C3, and 4-1 in the post-season.
