Playoffs start today

April 10, 2022

The Spiders are headed back to the playoffs for their ninth winter post-season appearance, and third in a row (if you count the Toilet Bowl Tourney). The playoff slate begins at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, though the Spiders and the rest of C3 will have to wait until Tuesday, yet more time for the rust to accumulate since the regular season ended in mid-March.

The Spiders finished the regular season with an 11–7–2–0 record, in third place, and will advance to the playoffs as the sixth seed.

This season’s playoffs returns to the traditional winter season round-robin format, though spread over two weeks, and expanded to the top 5 teams instead of the usual four.

The final C3 seedings:

C3 bracket (with regular season record):

1. Bulls (C3 East #1: 17–2–1–0; 35 pts.)
2. Spartans (C3 West #1: 18–2–0–0; 36 pts.)
3. Saints (C3 East #2: 14–4–1–1; 30 pts.)
4. Royals (C3 West 2: 14–3–2–1; 31 pts.)
5. Gold Rush (C3 East #3: 10–6–2–2; 24 pts.)
6. Spiders (C3 West #3: 11–7–2–0; 24 pts.)
7. Arctic Wolves (C3 East #4: 11–8–1–0; 23 pts.)
8. Fighting Walleye (C3 West #4: 11–8–0–1; 23 pts. )
9. Kan Jammers (C3 East #5: 9–8–2–1; 21 pts.)
10. Fighting Loons (C3 West #5: 10–9–1–0; 21 pts.)

The post-season schedule matchups for the C3 tier:

The Spiders’ playoff matchups:

• Game 1: The Spiders take on themselves (well, the Gold Rush). With so much roster crossover this season, it’s a very commingled group of players. And both finished in third place this season. The Spiders last faced the Gold Rush in 2017 and the record stands at an even 5–5, dating back to the 2010–11 season, where the Spiders struck gold in the first matchup.

• Game 2: The Spiders face off against the Fighting Walleye for the second time this season, despite a 1–1 record ... the first being the first-ever Spider forfeit in January. Lifetime against the Fighting Walleye, the Spiders are now 1–2*, with the first matchup in the playoffs last March, where the Walleye went on to win the C3 hardware.

• Game 3: The C3 West second-place Saints finished with a 14–4–1–1 record. While the Spiders have never played this team, apparently they are a reconstituted team that previously was the Fighting Piranhas, which bounced back and forth from C2 to C3 over the years. The Spiders last faced that team in the 2013–14 season, dating back to 2006–07 and have gone 3–7.

The Spiders will have their work cut out for them as they make their ninth appearance in the AHA post-season. It will have been 24 days since the end of the regular season by the time the playoff puck drops Tuesday night, come see how much rust has accumulated on the Spider Skates.

Playoff rules/tiebreakers

• If a game is tied after three periods, there will be a five-minute, sudden death, running-time overtime, if time allows in the ice slot. If the game is still tied after overtime the Home team will be declared the winner and advance to the next game. (Excluding Championship games.)
• If at any time the score differential is six or greater in the third period, the clock will convert to running time. If at any time the score differential goes below six goals, the clock will revert back to stop time.
• In championship games, if at the end of the three periods the score is tied, the teams shall play one overtime period of five minutes, running time. If at the end of the overtime period the score is still tied, a shootout will take place. Shootout rules are as follows:
  • Three players from each team participate in the order the team captain selects. The home team will elect whether to shoot first or second.
  • Each team takes three shots in alternating fashion. The team with the most goals after those six (or fewer) shots is the winner.
  • If the score remains tied, the shootout will proceed to a “sudden death” format. No skater may participate more than once until all other skaters have participated.
• Tiebreakers for pool standings:
  1. Most points
  2. Wins
  3. Head-to-head
  4. Goal differential (six goals maximum per game)
  5. Fewest goals against
  6. Fewest minor penalties
  7. Fewest total penalty minutes
  8. Earliest goal scored
  9. Coin toss

  (Note: If three teams are tied, once a team is determined as the higher seed, the tiebreaker reverts to step 1 of the criteria between two remaining teams, if necessary.)

For more information, see the full AHA Winter Playoff info page and the full AHA Winter Playoff schedule.