Spiders Play Best Hockey Of The Season, Beat Muskies 5-1

March 14, 2010

The Spiders made the trek north to Brooklyn Park with revenge on their minds, ready to do battle with the Muskies. The Muskies easily handled the Spiders 5-3 during an earlier meeting and came into the game just one game behind the division-leading Spiders.

Further complicating matters was uncertainty around the status of Spiders star Shawn Tromiczak. Rumors began circulating early in the week that Tromiczak had suffered an unspecified upper-body injury. Details from the Spiders front office were hard to come by ,but a source who wished to remain anonymous stated, “Shawn has violated a clause in his contract that prohibits high risk activities during the season. Even if the medical staff clears him to play, it’s unclear whether he will be suspended.”

Much to the relief of the sparse crowd, Tromiczak joined the Spiders for the warmup but was noticeably lacking in “dangle.” Tromiczak was also moved to defense while do-it-all players Brian Armagost and Greg Lindsley were on forward lines.

The Spiders came out of the gate with “jump” and got on the board midway through the first period. Greg Lindsley out worked a Muskie player behind the net and gained space to send a pass to Aaron Bedessem. Bedessem then sent a centering pass to an open Jay Hilden in front of the net for a nice deflection. Overall, the Spiders outshot the Muskies 10-3 in the period.

Doug Thorson netted his 7th goal of the season at 11:36 of the second with assists to linemates Dave Schliesman and Jim Maietta. The Muskies had periods of sustained pressure through the second period but the Spiders defense kept the puck to the outside and goaltender Brian Dow was up to the task when pucks did find their way on net.

Brian Armagost made the score 3-0 six minutes into the third with assists to Bruce Gustafson and Mark Bortnem. The Muskies finally got on the scoreboard with just over seven minutes left on a screened shot from the top of the left circle. This only served to anger the Spiders as they added two more goals to finish off the period. With Muskie Carson Turnquist in the box for slashing, Dave Schliesman pounded home a rebound with help from Jim Maietta and Tim Stalpes to once again give the Spiders a three-goal lead. Brian Armagost added his second goal of the game a minute later when he chipped a puck past the Muskie goalie as he was trying to cover it. Final score – Spiders win 5-1.

Spiders netminder Brian Dow finished with 19 saves on 20 shots in a bounce-back performance after last week’s 5-3 loss to the Sled Dogs. The Spiders also failed to clarify the status of Shawn Tromiczak going forward, as assistant captain Josh Cagle would only state Tromiczak is, “day to day,” while Tromiczak had no comment.

In other C2 North developments, the Spiders have clinched a playoff berth after the Sled Dogs beat the Renegades earlier in the evening. The top four teams in the C2 North advance to the playoffs with pool play scheduled for April 6th, 8th and 10th. Exact game times and opponents will be determined by the final regular season standings.

The Spiders remain in 1st place in the division with a half-game lead over the Sled Dogs and a 2-game lead over the Muskies and Warriors. The Renegades are 1½ games out of the last playoff spot but they control their own fate with games remaining against the Muskies, Dragons, Warriors and Spiders.

The Dragons will be the Spiders next opponent with a 9:15pm face-off at Richfield on Sunday, March 21st.