Spiders start out flat, end up even in 4–4 tie with Loons

Nov. 3, 2023

The Spiders dropped the puck on their 20th season in the AHA Friday night. With apparently no players on the Loons who participate in hunting season (can’t hunt loons, right?), the Spiders were significantly short on the bench in comparison to the 16-skater roster for the Loons.

While the Spiders started the scoring, with Tim Johnson tallying unassisted, the rusty Spider backcheck soon found itself in a 2–1 hole, and kept digging until early in the third when it was 4–2 for the Loons, after an early second-period goal by Grotbeck from Johnson.

But as the third wore on, it was the long-benched Loons who actually started to sag, and the short-benched Spiders found some life (well, at least some of the Spiders).

Following a D-only setup, Kato from Pappone in his first game back from IR, pulled the Spiders to within one.

And though the Loons had their chances with their speedy forwards, new Spider goaltender Ricky Tejeda (and his trusty post on one snipe) turned everything away to keep the Spiders in it.

And sure enough, Krough clinched the tie with just under three minutes to go. And though the gassed Spiders contemplated a timeout, instead they stepped up and kept the Loons out of scoring position.

The runtime overtime resulted in two shots for the Spiders, one for the Loons. The final buzzer signaled a tie to open the season (and that the bar was open at Pizze Luce, offering Friday Three-Way Specials).

Final score: 4–4.

And surprisingly, the Spiders were out-PIMmed 4 to 2.

Lifetime against the various versions of the Loons Dynasty™, it’s an even 8–8–2 dating back to the 2013–14 season.

Next up for the Spiders, a Thursday night game at Hopkins, vs. the Fighting Walleye Blue, a team with whom the Spiders split the season series last winter. Lifetime, which dates back to the 2020–21 playoffs (where they went on to win the C3 hardware), the Spiders are now 2–4*, including the asterisk game.

Puck drop at 9:40 p.m. at Hopkins