Spiders face win-or-go-home end to regular season
March 30, 2010
The Spiders’ 2009–10 season comes down to Thursday night’s final game vs. Fighting Ice Fish.
After starting out the season 2–6 through 2009, the Spiders somehow turned things around, clawing back to .500 and beyond by going 7–2–2 since the new year. They now sit in 5th place, just a game out of the fourth and final playoff spot. Despite giving up a point in two recent ties, as well as getting blown out by the Diablos, the Spiders have held firm in the standings thanks to key defeats elsewhere in the West of the fellow middle-of-the-pack Maroons, Wingmen and Lakers. Moreover, the Fighting Ice Fish have kept themselves in reach by going 3–6–1 since the new year, including a five-game swoon in January and February.
So, Thursday night’s rematch of the Spiders and Fighting Ice Fish amounts to a single-elimination play-in game for the post-season. If TSN’s analysts are correct, an Ice Fish win, tie or overtime loss locks them fourth place, with 23 or 24 potential points in the standings. Only a regulation win can tip the standings for the Spiders, which would give the Spiders an equal record (10–8–2; 22 points) to the Ice Fish. But thanks to AHA tiebreaker rules, the “head-to-head” rule would fall in favor of the Spiders, who would sweep the season series with the Ice Fish due to winning the Jan. 17 game. (Thankfully, the #4 rule won’t be in effect...)
Good seats still remain for the game, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. at Breck, to see if the Spiders can avoid being April fools and sneak in to the post-season, or if they’ll be making golf dates for next week.
| Place | Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||
| 1 | y– Chaos | 20 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 84 | 38 | 112 |
| 2 | x– Fighting Piranhas | 19 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 96 | 32 | 128 |
| 3 | x– Diablos | 19 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 82 | 55 | 122 |
| 4 | Fighting Ice Fish | 19 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 80 | 58 | 98 |
| 5 | Spiders | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 83 | 70 | 168 |
| 6 | Maroons | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 66 | 78 | 118 |
| 7 | Wingmen | 19 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 71 | 60 | 190 |
| 8 | Lakers | 19 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 59 | 73 | 122 |
| 9 | Sled Dogs | 19 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 48 | 72 | 76 |
| 10 | Nighthawks | 18 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 46 | 63 | 122 |
| 11 | Knights | 19 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 152 | 100 |
Over in the East ...
| Place | Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||
| 1 | x– Yellow Jackets | 19 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 114 | 57 | 131 |
| 2 | x– Royals | 18 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 71 | 37 | 78 |
| 3 | x– Ice Gators | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 81 | 35 | 72 |
| 4 | Lumberjacks | 19 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 77 | 51 | 120 |
| 5 | Stars | 19 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 73 | 60 | 78 |
| 6 | Fighting Saints | 19 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 67 | 54 | 91 |
| 7 | Muskies | 19 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 68 | 78 | 136 |
| 8 | Buccaneers | 19 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 50 | 85 | 56 |
| 9 | Wolf Pack | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 63 | 87 | 80 |
| 10 | Gold Rush | 20 | 5 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 61 | 110 | 72 |
| 11 | Arctic Wolves | 20 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 54 | 125 | 66 |
To recap the playoff entrance gate:
- Top four teams from each division advance to playoffs.
- Two pools, round robin (three games each).
- Pool Championship (top two records in each pool) Saturday night
- Tier Championship (both Pool Championship winners), Sunday.
So with the Chaos and Piranhas locking up the #1 and #2 seeds, the berthing and playoff schedule begins to fall into place.
The D1 berthing will be organized as:
- Pool A: East #1, West #2 (Fighting Piranhas), West #3, East #4
- Pool B: West #1 (Chaos), East #2, East #3, West #4
The post-season schedule matchups for D1:
| Date | Day | Time | Arena | Matchup | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/6/2010 | Tues. | 6:00 p.m. | Augsburg A | D1 Pool A – Fighting Piranhas vs 3 | |
| 4/6/2010 | Tues. | 7:45 p.m. | Augsburg A | D1 Pool A – 1 vs 4 | |
| 4/6/2010 | Tues. | 9:30 p.m. | Augsburg A | D1 Pool B – 2 vs 3 | |
| 4/6/2010 | Tues. | 9:30 p.m. | Eden Prairie 1 | D1 Pool B – Chaos vs 4 | |
| 4/8/2010 | Thurs. | 6:00 p.m. | Augsburg A | D1 Pool B – 2 vs 4 | |
| 4/8/2010 | Thurs. | 7:45 p.m. | Augsburg A | D1 Pool B – Chaos vs 3 | |
| 4/8/2010 | Thurs. | 8:00 p.m. | New Hope N | D1 Pool A – Fighting Piranhas vs 4 | |
| 4/8/2010 | Thurs. | 9:45 p.m. | New Hope N | D1 Pool A – 1 vs 3 | |
| 4/10/2010 | Sat. | 12:30 p.m. | BIG3 | D1 Pool A – 1 vs Fighting Piranhas | |
| 4/10/2010 | Sat. | 1:30 p.m. | BIG2 | D1 Pool B – Chaos vs 2 | |
| 4/10/2010 | Sat. | 2:00 p.m. | BIG1 | D1 Pool A – 3 vs 4 | |
| 4/10/2010 | Sat. | 2:15 p.m. | SLPE | D1 Pool B – 3 vs 4 | |
| 4/10/2010 | Sat. | 9:00 p.m. | BIG1 | D1 Pool A Championship (1 vs 2) | |
| 4/10/2010 | Sat. | 9:15 p.m. | BIG 3 | D1 Pool B Championship (1 vs 2) | |
| 4/11/2010 | Sun. | 3:45 p.m. | BIG 1 | D1 Tier Championship | |
