Spiders beat Knights 12–7

Jan. 10, 2007

The Spiders came out swinging tonight in an exciting matchup against the conference rival Knights, earning a 12–7 victory at the Drake Ice Arena in St. Paul.

Despite four Spiders goals in the first seven minutes of the game — two of which came in the first 1:49 of the game — the Knights showed that they had no intention of going away quietly, scoring three goals of their own before the end of the first period. In the end, though, they were no match for the offensive powerhouse they faced. Goals were scored by seven different Spiders, with Brian Armagost, recently moved from defense to the wing, notching his second hat trick of the season. Center David Schliesman had a hat trick of his own despite having not slept for three of the last four days due to a new rookie player in his family. The newly formed Martini-Schliesman-Maietta line recorded six of the team’s goals. With two goals and two assists, forward Jim Maietta was overheard saying to a teammate, “See, I finally get on a line without Marc Berris and I’ve notched two goals and two assists. If we want to keep winning Carlos [Eberhardt, the team’s captain] better keep that clown away from me!” Center Dave Schaefer, Berris’ other former linemate, was more guarded in his comments: “What can I say? Some guys can play hockey and others can’t. Jimmy [Maietta] and I are in the first group and let’s just say that Berris isn’t. Oh, hell, why beat around the bush? That guy belongs back in beginner school, if not enrolled in some figure skating lessons!”

Unlike the Spiders’ last outing, tonight they managed to steer almost entirely clear of the penalty box. The team’s resident cooler-dweller, defenseman Paul LaCosse, couldn’t resist though and was called for roughing in the second period, the team’s lone penalty. With one of the most effective penalty kill units in the AHA, the penalty was easily killed. Video review of the play proves beyond any doubt that LaCosse was, in fact, completely innocent.

Going into the third period the Spiders led 7–5, but then exploded by scoring five goals on 10 shots, with three of the goals coming in the last 2:18 of the game. While the Knights kept things interesting by notching two third period goals of their own, in the end they were simply unable to get past veteran goaltender Jeff Keacher, whose third period performance called to mind goaltending legends Patrick Roy, Tony Esposito, Jacques Plante, and Vladislav Tretiak all at the same time.

Spiders scoring summary:

• First period:
  • Thorson unassisted @ 16:43
  • Schliesman from LaCosse @ 15:21
  • Schliesman from Maietta @ 11:38
  • Armagost unassisted @ 10:50
  • Maietta from Schliesman @ 6:21
• Second period:
  • Martini from Maietta @ 14:54
  • Armagost from Schaefer @ 11:44
• Third period:
  • Gustafson from Thorson @ 13:22
  • Maietta unassisted @ 12:07
  • Armagost unassisted @ 2:18
  • Thorson from Gustafson and Jensen @ 1:21
  • Schliesman unassisted @ 1:13

Knights scoring summary:

• First period:
  • 8 unassisted @ 9:35
  • 27 unassisted @ 4:03
  • 16 unassisted @ 3:46
• Second period:
  • 11 from 4 and 21 @ 14:22
  • 7 from 16 @ 1:14
• Third period:
  • 26 unassisted @ 12:20
  • 7 unassisted @ 7:53

Penalties:

• Spiders, LaCosse, roughing, 2nd period @ 9:53
• Knights, 16, slashing, 2nd period @ 7:50
• Knights, 4, roughing, 3rd period @ 0:58

No power play goals for either team

Sadly, the most important question of the game — who would emerge first out of the locker room after the game? — could not be fairly determined due to the fact that the Drake Arena’s locker rooms accommodate no more than six people, so half the team was never in the locker room in the first place. Dave Schliesman was the first dressed of those changing in the hallway; Lee Martini was first dressed of those in the locker room. Both left the arena at the same time, however, so the contest ended in a draw. The panel of judges awarded the contest to Martini, though, because of his willingness to drive 100 mph all the way from Orono to be on time for the first faceoff and because of his ability to get fully dressed in under 45 seconds.