Book your April tee times, Spiders can’t catch Wolf-Rayets, lose 3–1
March 7, 2018
Wolf-Rayets vs. Spiders
Wednesday, March 7, 2018,
9:30 p.m. – SLP E
Game 19 (AHA game 12204)
- Wolf-Rayets final score:
- 3
- Spiders final score:
- 1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolf-Rayets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Spiders | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
It’s now official: C3 Spiders will miss playoffs for fourth consecutive season.
The Spiders came into Wednesday night’s game needing a win to move up in the standings as well as to maintain the tiebreaker over the Wolf-Rayets. The Spiders got neither. And instead, earned their third consecutive loss and fourth consecutive April golf season.
Advanced scouting reports had raised red flags over #21 Resch, who in the two previous games against the Spiders had put up a pair of goals, and sits in second place overall in scoring in C3 East, only behind the Blade Runners’ ringer Gallus. After a first shift spent entirely in the Wolf-Rayets zone with chance after chance, just as everyone was ready to change, #21 Resch turned on the jets, dangled his way through the neutral zone, dipsy doodled through two defenders at the top of the slot, and buzzed McCormick’s ear to put the Wolf-Rayets on the board. It looked to be a long night just a minute in.
However, the Spiders got a reset on the following shift, with Berman scoring, assist to Farner, to tie the game back up and keep both teams (and the zero Wednesday night SLP East fans in the bleachers) interested.
The rest of the first period, and the second featured some actually OK for C3, with good chances at both ends, and even better saves at both ends. The one blemish came six minutes into the second, when the Wolf-Rayets broke the stalemate.
And despite A+ chances by the Spiders in the rest of the game, and outshooting the Wolf-Rayets in the third, nothing found its way through.
The Spiders pulled their netminder with just over a minute to go, and it took much less than a minute for the Wolf-Rayets to cash in on the empty net.
Final score: 3–1
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||
| Fighting Loons –y | 19 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 89 | 38 | 66 |
| Les Etoiles du Nord –x | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 74 | 39 | 71 |
| Maroons –x | 19 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 59 | 48 | 103 |
| Leafs | 19 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 21 | 63 | 54 | 152 |
| Blade Runners | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 78 | 74 | 150 |
| Wolf-Rayets | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 57 | 48 | 86 |
| Spiders | 19 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 57 | 67 | 96 |
| Nighthawks Gold | 19 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 51 | 68 | 191 |
| Hooligans Green | 19 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 58 | 80 | 112 |
| Minnesota Warriors | 19 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 107 | 106 |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||
| Mastodons C3 –x | 18 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 87 | 54 | 46 |
| Minnesota Mild –x | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 107 | 61 | 62 |
| Spartans C3 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 107 | 52 | 76 |
| Royals C3 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 63 | 64 | 88 |
| Gold Rush | 18 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 68 | 70 | 78 |
| Ak Bars | 18 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 45 | 57 | 90 |
| Knights C3 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 55 | 73 | 80 |
| Icedogs | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 43 | 63 | 123 |
| Shame On Ice C3 | 18 | 3 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 41 | 70 | 78 |
| Hooligans Black | 18 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 25 | 77 | 52 |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||
| Troopers C3 –x | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 73 | 38 | 95 |
| Rebellion –x | 18 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 51 | 46 | 84 |
| Black Ice | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 67 | 62 | 88 |
| Arctic Wolves | 18 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 69 | 64 | 137 |
| Marauders | 18 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 58 | 48 | 103 |
| Stars | 18 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 49 | 42 | 80 |
| Silverbacks | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 44 | 53 | 94 |
| Bulls | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 42 | 60 | 74 |
| Nighthawks C3 | 18 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 47 | 71 | 124 |
| Wildcats | 18 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 63 | 79 | 139 |
This loss — the third in a row for the Spiders — officially puts the playoffs out of reach. The Spiders can finish as high as 18 points with a win in two weeks, which will be at least three points out of the cutoff regardless of potential tiebreakers. Even if the league decides to pull the post-season parity card on the still-undefeated-in-regulation Fighting Loons, thus giving the fifth-place finisher a playoff berth, the Spiders can only finish as high as 7th place now, and would’ve lost out on tiebreakers anyway. No rescue by AHA math.
That means no matter what, the Spiders will miss the AHA post-season for the fourth consecutive winter season.
As of week 19, the post-season field consists of the still-undefeated-in-regulation Fighting Loons (37 pts), LED Nord (30 pts), Maroons (24 pts) and a tossup between the Leafs (21 pts), Blade Runners (20 pts) and Wolf-Rayets (20 pts) for the fourth and final berth.
The terms of the wager weren’t clear, but apparently the Spiders will now owe the Leafs a round of beer if the Wolf-Rayets advance ahead of the Leafs into the post-season.
Next up, the last game of the 2017–18 season, third game against the still-winless Minnesota Warriors (0–19; 0 pts). The Warriors are coming off a 10–1 drubbing by the still-undefeated-in-regulation Fighting Loons.
Puck drop at Wakota (Woog) is next Sunday at 6:40 p.m.
For details, see the box score and game summary.
