Spiders, Buccaneers evenly matched, end in tie

Dec. 10, 2006

It was anyone’s game tonight in St. Paul, where the Spiders and Buccaneers skated to an overtime tie, with the final score 8–8.

Tonight’s re-debut of Marc Berris had the hockey world on edge. Would the Spiders winning ways be maintained? In facing a strong Buccaneers team, the Spiders would have their work cut out for them.

The Spiders saw a 4–2 first-period lead get wiped out, as the Buccaneers scored in quick succession to end the second, putting the score at 5–4 Spiders.

To kick off the third, however, the Buccaneers came out strong, building a two-goal lead, which was capped off by a Power-Play goal at 6:45. The Spiders, quiet all third period, came back to life. Doug Thorson sent one from Gretsky’s office to a patient Ben Tesch waiting to the left of the Buccaneers net, and sent it home, moving the Spiders to within one goal at 6:09

Unfortunately, the Buccaneers would answer back at 4:37, re-establishing their two-goal lead. But, Captain Carlos Eberhardt, ever the optimist, said, “we’ve got time.” And he was right.

With a minute and 53 seconds to go, Jim Maietta rallied the troops, with a score, with assist from Doug Thorson and Jeremy Litton.

Now within one goal again, the Spiders plotted to pull goalie Jeff Keacher as the clock reached a minute. However, the Buccaneers’ forechecking kept the Spiders locked down in their own end. Finally, with about half a minute to go, the Spiders gained control. A face-off in the Buccaneers’ end, with the Spiders 6-on-4, was pushed back out to neutral ice. A rush back up, led by Lee Martini and Dave Schliesman, and a shot by Dave, deflected off a Buccaneer defenseman and into the net! With 13 seconds remaining, tie game!

Despite a close chance by the Spiders in the remaining regulation seconds, the game would go into overtime. Each team recorded one shot on net, but time would run out, with the final score 8–8.

Scoring for the Spiders:

• First period:
  • Lee Martini, unassisted
  • Dave Schliesman, from Lee Martini
  • Jim Maietta, from Doug Thorson
  • Bruce Gustafson, from Dave Schliesman and Bob Jensen
• Second period:
  • Bruce Gustafson, from Jeremy Litton and Paul LaCosse
• Third period:
  • Ben Tesch, from Dough Thorson
  • Jim Maietta, from Doug Thorson and Jeremy Litton
  • The game-tying goal: Dave Schliesman, from Lee Martini

Only two penalties tonight by the Spiders:

• Paul LaCosse (of course), for tripping
• Jim Maietta, for “head contact”

Goalkeeper Jeff Keacher made sure the Spiders could walk away with the tie, facing 32 shots (10, 9, 12, 1) and stopping 24 of them.