Spiders sting Wolf Pack, win 6–4 and escape D1 East cellar

Feb. 17, 2008

Writeup by: Bob “Captain Bob” Jensen

It was a raucous evening at Aldrich arena, the setting for the right to see which team resides in the AHA D1 East cellar. The D1 Spiders, victorious in the two previous meetings with the Wolf Pack? Or the Wolf Pack, hoping to feed upon a Spiders team desperately in need of more players?

The evening starts out with “Captain Bob” getting a text message from “Alternate Marc,” “Armel and LaCosse are out.” “Frick” (edited), thought Captain Bob. Now we’re down to nine guys tonight. What are we gonna do?

Just before game time, Captain Bob gets to the rink and notices two key Spiders’ players checking out the cute figure-skating babes on the ice. After giving it some consideration, our glorious Captain quickly dismissed the idea of recruiting any of these fine lasses to assist us that evening on the ice. Fortunately, the walking wounded of Armel and LaCosse walked into the locker room, energizing the rest of the team!

Game time!

First period.

The Spiders draw first blood, with a goal at 8:18 by Ryan Herman, assisted by Mike Johnson. At that point, you could tell the Spiders were going to be in for a battle, with both teams playing fairly even (8 shots on goal for the Wolf Pack; 6 shots for the Spiders).

Second period.

The Spiders quickly watch their one-goal lead evaporate, as the Wolf Pack scored two quick goals (12:02 and 11:52). But rather than hang their heads thinking, “here we go again,” Aaron “Champ” Bedessem quickly retaliated at 10:05 to even the score. Unfortunately, the Wolf Pack decided to crank it up again, scoring another quick pair of goals to jump ahead 4–2. Not to be outdone, Ted “Steady Teddy” Samsel comes through at 5:41 to score his fourth goal of the season. Then nearly three minutes later, Mark “The Angry Accountant” Franklin comes through with an off-the-skate goal, assisted by Champ and Ted. That ties the game, but leaves the Spiders a little worried going into the 3rd, after being outshot 19–9 by the hungry Wolf Pack. But goalie Mike Derer has been more than up to the task the entire evening, shutting down the Wolf Pack from that point onward.

Third Period.

Both teams are battling frantically, but the Spiders are unrelentless, getting 12 shots on goal compared to the Wolf Pack’s eight. At 7:55, Captain Bob Jensen gets his first goal of the season on a rebound from Aaron “Champ” Bedessem’s breakaway. Leading 5–4, the Spiders decided to euthanize the poor Wolf Pack with a final “Nail in the coffin” goal by Aaron, with assists to John McGrane and Captain Bob. At that point, the game got decidedly “chippy,” with star Aaron Bedessem getting leveled at mid ice with a cross-check from behind. Moments later, a Wolf Pack player was tossed from the game (misconduct) for tackling Aaron near the Wolf Pack goal in the games closing minutes. Fortunately, Aaron was able to walk away from the game with just a few bumps and bruises.

Final score: Spiders 6, Wolf Pack 4.