Spiders eclipse Wolf-Rayets 2–zip

Jan. 6, 2018

Spiders get first shutout of the season at halfway point of the schedule.

With both the calendar and the schedule turning over, the Spiders faced the Wolf-Rayets for the second of three meetings this season. The first went the Wolf-Rayets’ way in OT, with C3 East runner-up scoring leader #21 J. Resch potting two of their four goals.

Saturday night, the Spiders knew what to expect from #21, and did their best to not be red-hued orange cones every time he touched the puck. And despite numerous chances early and late, the Spiders held him to zero points, along with the rest of the Wolf-Rayets.

In the first, the Spiders spent much of the period in the Wolf-Rayets’ zone, eventually outshooting 7–3. The possession tilt paid off in the second, when the Spiders got on the board first, following a corner hustle by Mike Johnson, who slid the puck back to Dave Schuster at the hashmark, and instead of shooting, he found Dave Kuhnly at the opposite hashmark, and Dave thankfully didn’t miss. Highlight reel goal and the Spiders up 1–0.

The same line scored again right off the faceoff, drawn by Johnson to a perfectly positioned Schuster in the slot, who sniped the top right corner to put the Spiders up by 2.

In the third, the goal posts at both ends made the most key saves, and the closest the Wolf-Rayets came was on a Brad Sutton shot on Spider sub-goalie Ben Jongewaard.

A late third period Spider penalty allowed the Wolf-Rayets to pull their sub goalie Cliff “Old Man” Johnson for the extra attacker. But that played right into the Spiders’ PK-to-win strategy, and despite a nervous bench doing math calculations with 14 seconds to go, the Spiders held on for the first shutout of the season.

That’s the first shutout since the disappearing game puck LED Nord game in November 2015, and just the fifth since the team moved to C3 in 2011–12. Franchise-wise, it’s the 16th overall shutout, dating back to the first on Nov. 14, 2006 (incidentally, also with a sub goalie), and the second, by original Spider goalie (and consummate ahaspiders.com host) Jeff Keacher on Jan. 14, 2007.

Total shots, at least according to the scorekeeper, were 24 (7, 14, 3) to 19 (3, 9, 7).

The victory pulls the Spiders back up to .500 and leading the “middle of the pack” in C3 East, tied for the time being for fourth with the Nighthawks (5–4), who have a game in hand.

The Spiders next face the winless Minnesota Warriors (0–10). The previous meeting went the Spiders’ way 6–3. The Spiders head out of town to the VMCC in Inver Grove next Saturday at 7:45 p.m.