Gettable Game Gets Away: The Spiders’ Battle Against the Pines

April 7, 2025

While Spider Captain Litton and Goalie Rickie T. were on a getaways of their own, the Spiders let one slip away against the #2 seed, the Pines, at Anderson Arena.

From the very first minute, the Spiders came out aggressive. M. Mettee passed to Ronnenberg, who fed it to R. Johnson, and he buried it in the back of the net. The Pines responded quickly with crisp passes of their own and managed to sneak one past Sub-Goalie Jack Sofie.

But the Spiders weren’t backing down. The Spiders D caught the Pines off guard with a breakout from Pappone and Mackie. They sent J. Anders rumbling down the ice, and Anders rocketed a wrist shot over the goalie’s glove into the corner of the net, sending the water bottle flying. The Spiders were buzzing now, and the first period ended with the underdogs feeling pretty good. The Spiders weren’t just cannon fodder for the Pines; they were putting the pressure on.

The Spiders, ranked 10th, were ready to play.

But in the 4th minute of the second period, the Spiders hit a lull. The Pines capitalized with two quick goals in that minute, stealing the lead — a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

In the third period, H. Long and Dr. “Backhand” Johnson teamed up to tie the score at 3–3. However, less than a minute later, the Pines retook the lead. Then came a controversial moment: the ref “felt like” a goal had gone in. Somehow, he determined the puck had crossed the line under Sofie’s pad. A replay provided by Kline and confirmed by Benson showed that the puck had not, in fact, crossed the line.

Despite this, the Spiders kept battling. K. Ronnenberg and R. Johnson worked together to surgically remove the puck from under the Pines goalie after a shot from Maki, bringing the Spiders within one. Then, Sofie made an incredible blue-line save, firing up the team and keeping the pressure on the Pines.

With just two minutes left, the Spiders opted for an extra skater. They fought hard, posting a few shots in the final minute. N. Ungaro, in an incredible display of hockey instincts, slid gracefully to block an empty-net shot and had the presence of mind to knock the net off its moorings. This gave the Spiders one last chance... but despite their feisty efforts, they couldn’t find the tying goal.

The loss stung, especially with Queen blaring from the next locker room. But here’s the silver lining: The Spiders earned two more free games. Yes, it’s like they’re getting paid to play hockey. And more importantly, they’ll get a chance to measure themselves against the two teams most likely to sweep the playoffs: the Loons and the Nor’easters. Beating those two teams would put the Spiders in a great position to make a run for the coveted semifinals — more free hockey.

Next Up: The Loons

The Spiders’ next challenge is the Loons. Back in February, they lost to this team 6–0 with a short bench. But on Friday night at Breamar, they’ll be at full strength. The Loons are a gettable team. They’re top-heavy with some speedy youngsters, but they also have a number of regulars — C3 players who mostly stand around and let their superstars do all the work. Most of their players have less than 8 points. They finished the season with very close games against the 9th and 14th place teams.

The Loons will expect the Spiders to roll over, but they’ll be as surprised as the Pines were at how tough the 10th-place (sometimes 11th) Spiders really are. Bring on the Loons!