C3 Spiders play one period of shutout hockey, but lose 6-zip to first-place Moose

Jan. 13, 2019

Season-high 48 shots against the snoozing Spiders

This game was moved to New Hope from Richfield, due to the C1 Spartans getting moved up to B2 in late December, throwing a wrench into the AHA’s schedule. The Spiders did their best to demonstrate in front of the Moose goalie (and C3 admin) that the AHA would’ve been better off with the Spiders moving down to D1 (or beginner school).

Scoring for the Moose started early on two consecutive shifts, plus a PPG to close out the first, then continued in the second, on two consecutive shifts, and with more than half the game left, the Moose were up by six. From there, the Spiders played brilliant shutdown hockey (or the Moose just got bored by the Spiders’ continual turnovers). At second intermission, the Spider captain, fresh back from holiday travels and wanting to get his money’s worth out of the ice time, unwisely chose to stick with a stop-time clock, despite the ref’s very clear preference for run-time clock.

A bevvy of penalties were all that were added in the reminder of the game, including a double penalty on the Spiders leading to an exactly two-minute five-on-three PK, before the clock mercifully ran out, with the final score of 6–0.

To the Las Vegas Ellis Island sports book betting crew after the game, the 36½ line on shots on goal, as recorded by scorekeeper (and house DJ extraordinaire) Brian Vesall ended up at 48, including 22 in the second period snooze! That’s just one off the Spider record for shots against in a period (23 in the second period, vs. the Nighthawks, on 3/26/2014).

And no, the record for most shots against in a game is still safe (53, vs. Bruins on 1/15/2006).

The first-place Moose keep their stranglehold on first place, improving to 10–1, their only loss by the LED Nord, and four points ahead of the Maroons.

The last-place Spiders keep their stranglehold on last place, at 1–9–1, and four points behind the Ak Bars/IceDogs.

Next up, the Spiders are understandably snubbed for Saturday’s Hockey Day in Minnesota fest, and instead, play on Sunday vs. the third-place LED Nord (7–3–1; 15 pts.), the only team to beat the Moose, but more importantly the only team the Spiders have tied this season.