Spiders finish regular season with 3–2 win over Blade Runners

March 10, 2021

The streak continues, as the Spiders put up seven straight wins, going undefeated for nine straight games.

With only 11 skaters available, and in need of a sub goalie, the short-benched Spiders headed to Braemar late night Wednesday — late enough to even catch the Wild/Golden Knights game in its entirety (which incidentally featured a late Golden Knight rally) — to take on the Blade Runners, to finish out the 2020–21 Winter Season 1 regular season.

The Blade Runners sit in last in C3 West, at 2–8, a drop off from their Cinderella run in the 2019–20 playoffs, where they went through the C3 brackets undefeated until the Royals shut them out in the final for the C3 hardware.

The Spiders still sit in second, and even with a win, can get no higher thanks to the Pines clinching the division Monday night with an 11–5 win over the Knights, reaching 17 points and holding the tiebreaker over the Spiders.

With the AHA sub goalie list in its own quarantine status, the Spiders finally found a willing gumper, Rob Benson of the D1 Grey Ducks. Rob would get a real C3 experience, peppered with shots thanks to the tired Spider backcheckers. By midway through the second period, the Blade Runners were outshooting the Spiders by 20–6. While the Spiders had scored first, Pappone from Schuster in the first, the Spiders second power play of the night should’ve been declined, as the Spiders gave up their second shortie of the season, on a two-on-one breakaway that beat Benson on a snipe of a shot, to tie the game.

It would take John Andres sliding into the net on the Blade Runners’ Kristel Carlson (of 2020 Gold Rush/Spiders/Nordeasters/Wolfpack summer league Saints fame), while Mike Johnson cleaned up the opportune rebound for the Spiders to regain the lead that would hold until the final minutes of the third.

Following Brad Sutton’s second drawn penalty (first one was duly ignored by Jack and crew) of the night, to get the Spiders back on the power play. And though they didn’t cash in, the Spiders now had momentum, and on the next shift, George Farner, newly demoted to D, wisely changed to avoid the plus rating, got to watch from the bench as his D partner Andy Moses went coast to coast to give the Spiders the most dangerous lead in hockey.

With 96 seconds to go and an iced Spider puck, the Blade Runners called timeout and got six skaters out for the offensive zone faceoff. And though the Spiders won the faceoff, it took just 19 seconds of persistence and a yard sale of Spider defenders in the crease, for the Blade Runners to flip the puck over the outstretched gloves and sticks to pull within one.

But, despite the success on that shift, the Blade Runners never sniffed another serious chance in the remaining minute. And though John Andres didn’t reprise his 200-footer, the Spiders locked up the victory, winning 3–2.

That gives the Spiders seven consecutive wins, and nine consecutive undefeated games, including the Pines tie, dating back to before the Pause. It’s the longest winning streak for the Spiders since the 2013–14 season, when the Spiders went 7–0 from Dec. 11, 2013, to Jan. 26, 2014, and 8–0–1 from Dec. 11, 2013, to Feb. 15, 2014. (Spider fans will recall the team spectacularly tanked after that, going 0–4 to finish the post-season.) The longest Spider (winning) streak still stands at 18 games in 2010–11.

The Blade Runners finish 2–9, and the franchise series, which dates back to the 2014–15 season, and evens up at 3–3–1–2.

Standings Watch

The Spiders finish the shortened 2020–21 Winter Season “1” regular season with an 8–2–1–0 record, good enough for second place, and will advance to the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. (No, last fall’s Toilet Bowl Tourney’s only entrance qualification was willingness to show up to the arena.)

While the Spiders wait for the final dance card slot, the one remaining post-Pause C3 West rescheduled game between the third-place Arctic Wolves and tied-for-fourth Royals will determine the final seeding. The Knights, however, due to the loss to the Pines, are now out despite the tie in points, with one fewer wins than the Royals, handing them that tiebreaker regardless of the outcome of the rescheduled game.

And congratulations to the Pines, who jumped from a fourth-place finish last season (10–5–5–0), and went 2–2 in the C3 brackets, to first this season, their second at C3, having made the jump up from D2 after the 2018–19 season.

In the meantime, the Spiders will have a week and a half to try to forget past playoff appearances, and avoid the rust accumulating.

Stay tuned for playoff hockey.