Spiders play, Spiders win

The Spiders — just 10 of them — finally returned to the ice after last week’s forfeit, and held on to beat the Black Ice.

With the Spiders’ roster decimated, the team was able to get a double-digit turnout Sunday night at Breck to face the second-to-last place Black Ice for the second time this season as the schedule turns over. In Suzanne’s net was Jordan Schwarze, who had just faced Grotbeck in last night’s C2 Wildcats/Spartans game.

The game was a stalemate until late in the first, when Mike Mettee, finally wearing the Spider red with the uniform delivery running late, broke the ice, assist from Krough (also in red) and Andres. A shift later, an almost identical play, 42 from 78 and 88 instead of 8, and it was 2-zip. Which is where it would stay until the third, when the tiring Spiders gift-wrapped a puck in the slot, and the Black Ice cashed in to cut the lead in half. The lone game ref (John Fleishhacker) finally caught glimpse one of the Black Ice’s body checks, though the Spiders effectively killed off the power play. But soon after, the Ice forced a turnover and Hail-Mary’d to a cherry-picking forward who beat the sagging D, then the goalie five hole, and tied up the game with 6:10 remaining.

Jan. 16, 2022, Breck – Spiders vs. Black Ice

Everyone finally in Spider red.

The tie lasted until a point shot from Harry Long was tipped by Mike Johnson in front of the Ice’s sub goalie’s crease and reclaimed the lead with 1:53 to go. The Ice called their timeout, and pulled their goalie after the faceoff. While not quite a Patrick Roy (or Dean Evason) extra-attacker call, it took the Spiders just over a minute of killing off the Black Ice pressure, when a turnover to Todd Krough’s backhand was accurately one-timed 150 feet on target, and the Spiders had the insurance policy to guarantee the win.

Spiders win: 4–2

2021–22 C3 West Standings (Week 10)
Team GP W L T OTL P GF GA PIM
Spartans 9 9 0 0 0 18 42 8 48
Fighting Walleye 10 8 2 0 0 16 47 24 24
Royals 10 7 3 0 0 14 43 30 26
Spiders 10 7 3 0 0 14 35 23 38
Fighting Loons 10 6 4 0 0 12 40 28 36
Minnesota Mallards 9 4 5 0 0 8 29 31 30
Troopers 10 3 6 0 1 7 24 43 32
Nordeasters 9 2 7 0 0 4 25 36 40
Black Ice 10 1 8 0 1 3 21 55 26
Wildcats 9 1 8 0 0 2 18 46 28

Paired with the opening-weekend 9–1 win, lifetime now against the Black Ice stands at 2–0–2.

The win keeps the Spiders inside the playoff bubble, tied with the Royals for third (7–3) though they have the tiebreaker, a game ahead of the Fighting Loons (6–4), whom the Spiders face next weekend. The previous game in November had the Spiders outlasting the Loons 2–1.

Puck drops Sunday at 6:15 p.m. at Richfield.

For details, see the box score and game summary.

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