Spiders maintain form to finish season

The C3 Spiders, all 7-2/3rds of them, got flushed 8–6 in the C3 Bracket 1 Toilet Bowl game.

Following last weekend’s triumphant victory* (a 6-skater forfeit by the Knights), the Spiders advanced the C3 playoff bracket 1 furthest possible reaches: the Toilet Bowl Tourney.

With just seven skaters available, and one high-tailing back to BIG 2 from out of town for a second wind-second period late arrival, the Spiders gave it a go against the relatively long-benched Fighting Loons, with 10 skaters. The Loons also had Brandon Hofer in net, who subbed for the Spiders as the second wind-second period emergency callup back in February.

The last time the Spiders faced the Loons in the post-season was March 28, 2014, with the Braemar bleachers full of megaphoned loons, and the Spiders short-benched and rapidly attritioned. In that game, the Spiders (of course) came up short, 6-3, and lost Schuster (of course) to injury.

The Spiders, backstopped again by Larry Curtis, who guaranteed a 12% breakaway lockdown rate before the game, kept his word.

The gassed Spiders, even in the first period, gave Larry plenty of reps, with second, third and fourth chances in and around the crease, abundant. By the time the longest first 17 minutes of the season ticked away, the Spiders were down 3-zip, and outshot a whopping 18–2. Not a record, but very reminiscent of the Spiders previous playoff appearance in 2014, the third round after the Loons game that year, when the Spiders had just 8 skaters to the Sled Dogs full bench of 13.

Unlike that game, the Spiders showed some life in the second period and made it into an actual game. A lineup change, swapping Harry Long to forward for John Andres, was apparently the correct move, as just a minute and change in, a point shot off the back board by Andres was tapped in out front by Long, to make it a two-goal game. Brad Sutton also arrived early in the second from out of town, and gave the weary bench one more body.

The Spiders’ momentum continued, with Grotbeck, in his second visit today to BIG, potting two in a row to tie the game. The Loons suddenly realized the porcelain trophy was at risk, and poured in two more. The offensive floodgates were now open and the teams traded a handful more, to make it an eight-goal second period. By the time of the buzzer, it was 6–5 Loons, and Grotbeck had notched a hat trick.

In the third, the Loons continued their puck luck, including one that flew up in the air over Curtis and down in the opposite corner into the net. Getting up to an 8–5 lead, Long answered with 10:52 to go to get his Hat Trick. But that would be all the Spiders could muster.

And just to mirror the 2014 matchup, Schuster again got hurt in the third, suffering another “lower-body” injury, this time after a mid-ice collision with a Loon.

Final score: 8–6. Final shots: 43–23.

The Spiders finish out the post-season, their first playoff appearance in six years, with a 1*–2 record, and the 2019–20 season, which started 11 months and 20 days ago, with an 8*–11–2–1 record.

Lifetime, beginning with the Spiders’ first post-season appearance in the 2008–09 D1 championship run, it’s been all downhill ever since, going 10–12–3 (or 9–12–3 excluding the forfeit last week).

The Spiders are eternally grateful to Larry as well as all the sub goalies who filled in Bill’s net this season — Brandon, Suzanne Kellogg and Dan Schultz.

Playoff watch:

A quick look at the C3 standings again, not that they paint any clear picture with the bracket elimination format. In surprising news, the juggernaut overall #1 seed Moose were upset by the #8 seed Bulls 5–2, who will now play the #4 seed Royals in the bracket 1 C3 semi-final on Sunday. In Bracket 2, the top (#2) seed Hooligans remain undefeated, and take on the #11 seed Blade Runners, also undefeated, backed by summer Saints goalie Kristel Carlson, for the Bracket 2 C3 semi-final.

2019–20 Playoffs – C3 Bracket 1 Standings
Team GP W L T OTL P GF GA PIM Diff
#1 Moose (1) 3 2 1 0 0 4 11 7 8 +4
#4 Royals (2) 2* 2 0 0 0 4 4 2 6 +2
#5 Fighting Piranhas (3) 3 2 1 0 0 4 10 6 4 +4
#8 Bulls (4) 2 2 0 0 0 4 14 3 8 +11
#9 Knights (5) 2* 0 2 0 0 0 1 10 2 −9
#12 Pines (6) 4 2 2 0 0 4 12 9 24 +3
#13 Wildcats (7) 2 0 2 0 0 0 5 12 4 −7
#16 Arctic Wolves (8) 3 1 2 0 0 2 6 12 8 −6
#17 Spiders (9) 3* 1 2 0 0 2 8 12 6 −4
#20 Nordeasters (10) 3* 1 2 0 0 2 8 10 12 −2
#21 Fighting Loons (11) 3 2 1 0 0 4 15 11 10 +4
* Includes forfeit
2019–20 Playoffs – C3 Bracket 2 Standings
Team GP W L T OTL P GF GA PIM Diff
#2 Hooligans (1) 2 2 0 0 0 4 11 2 10 +9
#3 Maroons (2) 3 2 1 0 0 4 13 8 10 +5
#6 Fighting Walleye (3) 3 1 2 0 0 2 9 10 2 −1
#7 Spartans (4) 3 2 1 0 0 4 7 5 8 +2
#10 Troopers (5) 3* 1 2 0 0 2 3 11 0 −8
#11 Blade Runners (6) 3 3 0 0 0 6 14 2 12 +12
#14 Gold Rush (7) 3 1 2 0 0 2 10 16 4 −6
#15 Slashing Pumpkins (8) 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 −2
#18 Black Ice (9) 3* 1 2 0 0 2 5 10 6 −5
#19 Ice Hawks (10) 2 0 2 0 0 0 6 11 10 −5
#22 LED Nord (11) 2 1 1 0 0 2 5 6 2 −1
* Includes forfeit

For details, see the box score and game summary.

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