Lake Erie Monsters

The last month has changed my life.

Allow me to explain. It all started innocently enough, a buddy texting me December 22:

"Got two free tickets to Monsters game tonight, wanna go?"

The "Monsters" he was referring to are the Lake Erie Monsters, the American Hockey League team in Cleveland. The Monsters are the minor league affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.

I wasn't sure how to respond. Normally I make a rule to never turn down free tickets to a sporting event, but hockey?

I texted my wife, who was visiting family in Alabama. "You should go!" she responded. Little did she know...

Prior to that night, my sports life was one of the main sources of stability I had. I followed football, baseball, and basketball. I rooted for the Browns, Indians, Cavaliers, and Crimson Tide. It was all so simple, so perfect. So I thought.

We get to the arena to see the Monsters take on the Rochester Americans. The first thing that struck me was how cool the playing surface looked in person (no pun intended). And the players were padded up like football players; football players with sweet-looking sticks and blades on their feet!

The game started with the faceoff and I found myself transfixed by the sounds: the skates on the ice, the puck smacking into sticks, and players being violently checked into the boards. Surely, I thought, the early infatuation with the sights and sounds will dissipate once the boring play continues.

Then a funny thing happened. Nothing about the play was boring. In fact, it was almost constant action, a far contrast from the incessant play stoppages in football and basketball. From our seats behind the net, I could see the offensive and defensive schemes in action. It wasn't just a bunch of guys skating around. I was amazed at the precision and accuracy of the passing.

Completely consumed in the action, I raised my arms in the air, almost involuntarily, when the Monsters scored their first goal at 9:47 in the first period. When the first period ended, I actually looked at my buddy and said, "already?"

I spent the first intermission in a dazed state. How could this be? How could I have lived 31 years and just now discovered another sport I enjoy? Would there be room? What sport would hockey take time away from?

So many questions and so few answers.

What has followed in the month since that fateful game can only be described as a courtship between hockey and I. I can't seem to get enough. I even bought a hockey video game which has consumed more time than I care to admit. A week after my first game, I convinced my wife to take me to a second for my birthday. This Saturday will be my third game. I've also been watching NHL games on some channel called "Versus."

Its all so strange. I grew up in Cleveland and spent a great deal of my adult life in Alabama. Nothing about that says, "hockey fan." Yet I'm learning to not question it. I root for the Monsters, but have yet to figure out a rooting interest for the NHL.

As for my wife, she is patiently putting up with my new fascination. Though less than thrilled I have yet another sport to obsess over, she is cautiously optimistic the thrill will wane in time.

I hate to have to tell her, but she may have to put those hopes on ice.

The team had a short practice this morning as they prepared to take on the Iowa Chops tonight at Blue Cross Arena.  The Amerks are coming off of their most successful three days of the season last weekend when they collected two points beating the Lake Erie Monsters and gained another point in a loss to the Toronto Marlies in a shootout.

Jacob Micflikier is back after he was sent down to the Florida Everblades on November 22nd.  Micflikier has six points (1+5) in 13 games with the Rochester and 21 points (9+12) in just eight games with the Everblades.  Hopefully his burst of points with the Everblades continues up here.

The Amerks also signed goaltender Mike Brodeur to a 25-game Professional Tryout (PTO). The 25-year-old netminder appeared in eight games with Augusta Lynx of the ECHL to start the season, posting a 2-4-1 record with a 3.02 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.  His record does not seem that great, but he’s considered a great player who was on a really bad team.  Jack Birch said that he played very well in the games he was able to see him in, which earned him the PTO.

Noah Welch was also on the ice, he arrived in Rochester on Thursday evening.  He seems excited to be here and get the chance to play in “all situations.”  He hasn’t had much playing time with the Panthers, but is considered a solid defenseman.  He was paired up with Rory Fitzpatrick during practice.

David Shantz will be getting his fifth start of the season with the Amerks.

Other pairings to expect tonight:

Repik, Sprukts, Meyer

Gelech, Stewart, Micflikier

Brine, Glass, Collins

Larman, Emmerson, Sweetland

Fitzpatrick, Welch

Garrison, Ellerby

Caruso, Henry

Mike Duco has a groin injury and won’t be playing.. MacDonald and Aston are likely healthy scratches.

Post from: Lets Go Amerks - Rochester Americans

Game Day Skate, Preparing for the Chops

The Lake Erie Monsters wrapped up a five game home stand with a 4-3 win on Wednesday, taking on 1-2-0-1 Milwaukee Admirals squad.  The Admirals primary difficulty this season has been in the scoring department, netting just seven pucks in four games.  So far, the Monsters were 2-1-0-1 but the two losses represented their last two outings.  They needed to close out the home ice with a win since the Hamilton Bulldogs, leaders of the Western Conference North Division were off to a 4-0 start.  The Monsters sat in fourth place, three points back of the Bulldogs. 

Jason Bacashihua was in net for his second straight start.  He was 1-1 on the season, the loss a sudden death shootout in the Monsters last outing.

The beginning of the first period was unimpressive on both sides of the ice, with both teams shooting a lot, but without much on the puck

Lake Erie went on the first power play of the night with 11:31 left in the period.  The offensive pressure was there, even as they registered a cross-bar hit at one point, but the Monsters couldn’t score.

Milwaukeegot their first power play attempt almost immediately after the penalty kill on an interference call on Chris Durno.  Milwaukeehad one nice shot early in the penalty kill, but the Monsters once again looked good on the kill, even squeaking off a short-handed shot by Captain Brian Willsie. 

Phillipe Dupuis put the Monsters right back to short-handed with a hooking call.  This time, the Admirals made them pay on a slap shot from the point by Aniti Philstrom, assists by Alexander Sulzer and Nick Spaling.

So much for the Admirals having difficulty scoring.

Then again, the Monsters weren’t having trouble either.  Two minutes later, on what appeared to be a pre-discussed play, the Monsters tipped a puck up the boards after a face-off in their own end.  Tom Frische raced down the ice, chased down the puck, skated around the back of the Admirals net, found T.J. Galliardi out front, and walla, it was 1-1. 

The rest of the period was spirited on both ends of the ice.  Shots on goal favored the Monsters 16-15.  Milwaukee held the Monsters in their own end much of the last Monster power play.

The second period proved all Monsters.  Three unanswered goals and a Chris Stewart advantage on a fight translated to total domination for Lake Erie in what might have been their best period so far in this young hockey season.

 The 2-1 lead came via Derek Peltier goal with assists by T.J. Hensick and Per Ledin.  Brian Willsie score his fifth of the season and fifth in five games halfway in with assists to Hensick and Kevin Montgomery.  Finally, the 4-1 lead went in off the stick of Chris Durno three-quarters of the way through the period. 

Right after that fourth goal came the fight.  Chris Stewart and Kelsey Wilson squared off, Stewart landing the majority of the blows. 

Shots favored the Monsters 32-17 after two.

The third period was the Monsters undoing the last two games as they surrendered two goal leads both times.  Tonight they’d break down again, although it did take almost all of the third.

With 6:32 left in the game, Milwaukee pulled to within two.  They held the puck in the Monsters end for roughly a minute and a half before Kelsey Wilson scored, assist to Nick Spalding. 

Milwaukeescored again with 4:18 left, but the goal was negated on a goalie interference call on Josh Gratton.  The replay proved the official right as Gratton did push on Bacashihua just before the goal went by his left skate.

On the power play, the Monsters had a great odd man rush scoring chance that Macintyre stopped with a pad save, keeping the Monster lead at 4-2. 

The Admirals pulled the goalie with two minutes left, pressuring in the Monster zone.  The Monster’s Cuminskey took a bad interference call with :35 left on the clock, giving Milwaukee a two man advantage with the goalie pulled. 

The Admirals silenced the crowd with 3.7 seconds left on the clock with a goal by Cal O’Reilly.

The Monsters won the faceoff and closed out the game, albeit without excitement yet again in the third.  Had the one goal not been waved off, it would have been the third game in a row Lake Erie had surrendered a multiple goal lead in the third. 

The Lake Erie Monsters went up against an old friend turned foe in Wyatt Smith and the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Ohio.  Smith, the team captain of last years’ Monster squad, was signed by the Tampa Bay Lightening, parent of the Norfolk Admirals immediately after the season ended last year.  While he wasn’t the primary cause for Norfolk handing the Monsters their first loss of the year, a 4-2 defeat, it was disconcerting to see the veteran playing in another teams’ colors.

The Monsters started the night tied for first place with a 2-0 record.  Going into the evening, their power play penalty killing was a perfect 12-for-12.  While it would be nicer seeing Lake Erie cut down on penalties, to date they haven’t been hurt being short-handed.  That would change in this one.

The Norfolk Admirals, a non-conference match-up came into the game 0-1-0-1, sporting a loss and an overtime loss on the season.  They leave Cleveland 1-1-0-1.

When questioned about the early goal scoring from the opposition in each of this years’ games Coach Sacco commented “I think its focus and preparation.   We have to come out with a better start”. 

Lake Erie did get a quick early goal from Brian Willsie but the real culprit was a Norfolk defenseman trying to play the puck back to net minder Karri Romo, and shooting it by him for a lucky Monster goal. 

It didn’t take long for Norfolk to answer.  Paul Szczechura score an unassisted power play goal 58 seconds later after Monsters defenseman Darcy Campbell was sent off the ice for holding.  The goal was the first power play goal allowed by the Monsters this year. 

If the scoring continued at this torrid of a pace, this one was going to end more like a football contest than a hockey game.  The net-to-net full ice action persisted and both teams registered chances.

Things slowed down a bit until the Monsters’ Tom Frische  took an interference call with 9:29 left in the first, the crowd hoping the Monster penalty kill could get back on track.  It did, and immediately thereafter, the Monsters scored, but the goal was nullified by a questionable T.J. Hensick high stick that knocked the puck down and back to himself just before he scored. 

The Monsters got their first attempt at a power play fifteen minutes in after Norfolk right winger Chirs Lawence was called for a pretty hefty elbowing called that leveled a Monster right in front of the ref.  While the power play was in vain, the Monster’s got another one exactly two minutes prior to the end of the first on a trip from Ty Wishart.  Again, though it did not matter.  While the Monsters have been great on killing penalties, they’d been just as bad at scoring when they are a man up. 

At the end of one, shots on goal favored the Monsters 13-9.

While the second period featured a ton of hitting, primarily with the Monsters on the fore check, it was the Admirals that headed to the locker room with a 2-1 lead.  Radek Smolenak scored his first of the night almost three quarters of the way through the second, with assists by Szczechura and Brandon Segal.

Admirals’ Zenon Kenopka and Monsters’ Jesse Boulerice squared off in the first fight of the night, Boulerice getting the better of that exchange.  Boulerice is quickly assuming the role of enforcer played by last year’s fighter Mitch Love who is no longer on the team.  This was Boulerice’s third altercation of the young season.

The Monsters opened the third period scoring 4:50 in, tying up the game at 2-2.  That lead was short-lived, as it took less than two minutes for Norfolk to bump the score to 3-2 on Szczecura’s second of the night.

The Admirals extended the lead to 4-2 on an unassisted goal by Brandon Bochenski.  This one came right after a successful Norfolk penalty kill, something that seems to be somewhat of an issue so far this year for the Monsters – that being giving up goals right after a power play and right after scoring.

That was the way it ended, and the Monsters suffered their first loss of the season 4-2. 

Mostly, Lake Erie played pretty evenly against the Norfolk squad, but were stymied by a great goal-tending effort on the part of Norfolk’s Ramo.  As Coach Sacco said “Some nights that happens”.

The Political bobble head night giveaway had Monsters fans choosing Obama 59% to 41 % over John McCain.  Both candidates looked pretty good in a Monsters Hockey Jersey.

The Monsters won’t get much sleep before playing their second meeting of the year against the Grand Rapids Griffins tomorrow afternoon at the “Q”.  Game time is 1:00.

With just under a minute to go, the Monsters were reeling from giving up a two goal lead.  Nathan Smith made sure they wouldn’t head to over time for the second day as the Monsters regrouped for a 4-3 win.  Lake Erie’s season looks promising with the 2-0 start.

After winning the season opener against the Grand Rapids Griffins in OT, also a 4-3 affair, the Monsters took to the ice less than 24 hours later for a 5:00 Sunday home game against the Toronto Marlies.  The Marlies came in 0-1, suffering the reverse fate of the Monsters, an OT loss in their first contest.

This game played out the opposite of the first game with the exception of a slow Monsters start, a plethora of Monster penalties, stellar Monster penalty killing.  Lake Erie chased down Grand Rapids on Saturday, but gave up the lead on Sunday.  In both cases, though, they found an extra gear when they needed it, emerging with four points against division foes.

The Monsters got on the board first in this one.  After killing off a penalty, the Chris Stewart, T.J. Hensick, Jesse Boulerice line all kicked in.  Boulerice scored for a 1-0 Monsters’ lead, assists by Hensick and Stewart.

Toronto would answer halfway through the first.

After crushing Lake Erie defenseman Mike Vernace against the boards with a thundering fore check, Torontocenter Andre Deveaux passed one in front to Bates Battaglia and he slammed it through the five hole of Tyler Weiman for the equalizer.

The Monsters regained the lead with 3.46 left; this one on the power play.  Hensick made a great pass off the boards to Nigel Williams.  Williams was plastered to the ice right in front of the net, squeezing of a weak shot, but the rebound went straight out to Brian Willsie and he poked home his second goal in as many nights for the 2-1 lead.   

The first period ended with the Monsters a man down.  Brian Willsie took a penalty with 21 seconds left but the Toronto Marlies couldn’t capitalize.

The second period was LOADED with action. 

Eleven minutes in, three players left the ice, two of them Marlies.  Kris Newbury ended up the worst for wear, tagged with a ten minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike behavior.  Boulerice was in the midst of it for Lake Erie, and he’d get his with his own later in the frame.

Forty seconds later, the Monsters put themselves up 3-1.  T.J Hensick logged the goal.  Kyle Cumiskey and Aaron MacKenzie were in on the assist.

Twelve minutes in, Boyd Devereaux and Nigel Williams dropped the gloves, and after a flurry of punches, were sent off for five minutes each for fighting.

With a minute left in the second, Boulerice threw a round-house punch after the whistle, much to the delight of the crowd.  Although it landed, he was skating backward, so it looked worse than it probably felt.  It still ended in a 2:00 Unsportsmanlike.  The period came to a close with no further incidents.

Toronto only needed 24 seconds into the third to draw to within one.  Richard Peliot notched the quick score, with an assist by Robbie Earl.

Toronto kept the pressure on throughout most of the third.  Monster’s goalie Weiman pulled save after save out of his hat, preserving the 3-2 lead.  With the defense looking like a sieve, Weiman was bound to get beat at some point.

Boyce went to the box for a hook at 11:05, and the Monsters had a two man advantage when Kromwell took the hook. 

Toronto killed off the first penalty, and Boyce shot out of the penalty box, scooped up the puck, and tipped it right over the shoulder of Weiman, making it a 3-all tie with a little less than seven minutes left in the game.  The Marlies were still short-handed for another forty five seconds, but the Monsters could not break through

The Monsters appeared to catch fire after the tying talley, and they pressured Toronto heavily.  Nathan Smith broke the tie with fifty seven ticks left on the clock.  Chris Dumo and Mike Vernace assisted on the game winner.

Third start of the game was Lake Erie Monster Goalie Tyler Weiman.  Monsters T.J. Hensick was second star of the game registering a goal and and two assists, and 1^st star was Nathan Smith for his game winner.

The Monsters play another back-to-back home weekend Oct 17^th and 18^th, taking on Norfolk and Grand Rapids respectively.  Friday is a 7:05 start, and Saturday a 1:00.

Friday’s game features dollar dog, dollar pepsi’s, and the first 5000 17 and under receive a political bobble head.  Cast your vote by choosing Obama or McCain as a bobble head in a Monsters’ jersey. 

The Amerks lost to the Syracuse Crunch tonight 5-2 in their first preseason game.

Everyone knew they could look forward to a few fights tonight and I’m sure a lot of people wanted to see (or hear about) Ryan James Hand take on Jon “Nasty” Mirasty.  But, who was ready for the four fights that took place?  After last season, one fight would have been a treat.

Hand of course dropped the gloves first, only 3:19 into the game.  But, it wasn’t with Mirasty.  It was with Mike Sgroi who is a real heavyweight.  This bodes well for Hand showing he isn’t afraid to take on people a bit bigger than himself.

Hand never did get to take on Mirasty.  In fact, Mirasty didn’t fight anyone tonight.  Ryan didn’t mind though saying, “I’m not really upset [about not fighting Mirasty], I have a lot of respect for him.  I’ll get my chance.”

The second fight of the game was between James DeLory of the Amerks and Trevor Hendrikx of the Crunch.  Kevin O said this one was pretty much another draw.

The third and fourth fights involved Neil Clark who played for the Grand Rapids Griffins last season.  First he tossed down the gloves to fight a rather unwilling Kyle Wharton who just avoided most of Clark’s punches.  His second fight of the night came against Bryan McGregor.  This fight clearly went to Clark.

Scoring goals for the Amerks were Mark Lee and Jacob MacFlikier. Chris Beckford-Tseu was in goal for the first period and part of the second where he saved 13 of 15 shots.  David Shantz was in goal after that stopping 10 of 13 shots.

Although there was no radio coverage or online streaming of the game, Kevin O from the D&C did a fantastic job keeping everyone updated on the game.  LetsGoAmerks would like to thank Kevin for his time and updates.

The Amerks are on the road again tomorrow for their second preseason game of the season in Cleveland where they will take on the Lake Erie Monsters.

Then on Saturday is the first time fans in Rochester will get to have a good look at the new team when they once again take on the Monsters.  The puck drops at 7:35pm at the ESL Sports Centre.  I for one can’t wait to

The Lake Erie Monsters closed the doors at Quicken Loans Arena for the year, suffering a 4-1 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs in front of 15,408 fans.

The fan total set the highest attendance mark of the year for the Monsters.  More impressively, it was the largest crowd at any AHL game this season.

The rowdy crowd showed why hockey and the Lake Erie Monsters will be a success in Cleveland for years to come.  The Monsters, even in defeat, entertained with a great final home effort.  They will close out their season today in Rochester against the Americans.

Wyatt Smith, the team captain and a great leader, was the lone goal scorer for the Monsters.  It seemed appropriate that this quiet lead-by-example captain should have the Monsters' last home-ice goal. Since the Monsters snapped him up, Smith has been one of the most entertaining players on the team.

When he first came up, David Jones went on a scoring tear.  The primary difference?  Wyatt Smith was added to his line.  After Jones went up to Colorado, Jamey Lundmark was the next person going on a scoring binge.  Yup, he was opposite Smith as well. 

The job of captain is to lead, to make your teammates better.  Smith is a born leader.  He’s one person Cleveland hopes to see back again next year.  Well, I take that back.   Hopefully, he’ll be in the NHL.  If not, lets hope he’s a Monster.

The Monsters fell into a 1-0 hole prior to Smith scoring his goal.  Cory Locke scored the first goal with assists from Jonathon Ferland and Cedrick Desjardins.

Smith evened the scoring at 1-1 less than a minute later, with assists from Peltier and T.J. Hensick.  Hensick, a player fans got to watch all season except while he was up in Colorado, was another bright spot fot the Monsters.  He represented Lake Erie at the AHL All Star Game this year in grand fashion, bring home player of the game honors.

The second period saw the Bulldogs break back on top 2-1 early, and defense ruled the rest of the time.  Matt D’Agostini scored this one, with assists from Cote and Locke.

The third period breakout goal for Hamilton was a penalty shot awarded to Kyle Chipchura with just over five minutes left in the game.  That proved to be the backbreaker for the Monsters.

Cory Locke rounded out the scoring for the night after Lake Erie pulled Goalie Mike Wahl in an attempt to catch up.  Locke’s goal, an empty netter, made it 4-1 in a game that was definitely closer than the final score indicated. 

The entire Monsters squad took to the ice after the game, and with raised sticks, saluted the crowd for their support on the season. 

The Monsters led the shot parade this evening 38-29.  Even as the curtain draws on Lake Erie’s first season here in Cleveland, I can’t wait until next year.

Third star of the game  – Lake Erie’s Wyatt Smith

Second star – Hamilton’s Matt D’Agostini

Star of the game – Hamilton’s Cory Locke.

12,291 fans loaded themselves into Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Ohio on Friday night hoping to see some fantastic hockey.  Their hopes turned to reality in a back and forth high scoring goal-fest that ended in a 5-4 win after a shootout.  The story of the night was Jason Bascashua.  He returned to goal after a long layoff from injury, stopping 45 of 49 shots in the victory and turning in a 4 stops in 5 shoot out attempts.

The Monsters went down early going in the hole 2-0 on a pair of goals by Brett Engelhardt, one in the first period.  The second period saw a flurry of scoring activity. 

Engelhardt’s second goal was less than a minute in, and T.J. Hensick made it 2-1 roughly two minutes later.  Engelhardt racked up the hatrick shortly thereafter, returning the Bulldog lead to 2 and stretching the score to 3-1. 

With the Monsters out of the playoffs, they could have mailed in the game from here, but that is not true Monster fashion.  They cut the score to 3-2 when T.J. Hensick began a hatrick bid of his own, scoring his second goal of the evening.  Between Hensick and Engelhardt, they’d accounted for all five of the goals on the board.  It looked like the Monsters would head into the locker room down 3-2, but a tremendous rush with nineteen seconds left in the period left Tom Frische alone behind the Bulldog goal with about five seconds to go.  He circled, shot the puck into the buttock of a Hamilton defender and the puck careened in with .02 seconds left on the clock, tying the game at 3.

The Monsters opened up their first lead of the evening with Brad Richardson going five hole with five minutes left.  A cheesy hooking call at the blue line gave Hamilton a 5-on-4 advantage.  They pulled the goalie as well, giving them a 6-on-4.  Smith took a short handed shot at the empty net that would have iced the game, but missed, leaving Hamilton with an opportunity to tie.  They did so with just a minute left, Lahti slapping home the 4-4 tie on a beautiful offensive passing series for Hamilton. 

The overtime frame was exciting, but netting no scores, taking the game into a shootout. 

Bascashihua, who shined all evening, closed out his performance by stonewalling Hamilton in the shootout, giving Lake Erie the victory.

These two teams play again, this time in Hamilton.  The Monsters have two home games left prior to the end of the season.

The Monsters returned to home ice Tuesday evening at Quicken Loans Arena in fifth place in their division.  They played a second place Manitoba Moose squad, who’d owned them five out of six games this year.  Tonight the Moose would make it six of seven, stomping the Monsters 7-2.  After the game coach Joe Sacco said there was really nothing positive to take out of the contest.  He was right.

The Monsters opened the game in grand fashion, scoring on the power play just three minutes and four seconds in, after Manitoba’s Kevin Estrada went off the ice for a high stick. 

Two penalties and three minutes later, the Moose sported a five-on-three advantage. 

Wyatt Smith went off for the Monsters for hooking, and Jeff Jillson the same roughly a minute later.  The penalty unit of the Monsters did an excellent job the killing off both advantages and preserving the 1-0 lead.  Wyatt Smith went to the box a second time with a little over five and a half minutes left in the first.  Once again a hooking call; the penalty kill was up to the task.  That pretty much ended anything positive you could say about the Monsters play on this day.

With one minute remaining, all the Monsters wanted to do was make it out of the first with the lead.  They blew it with 48 seconds left on a trickler that slowly leaked into the goal from Jannik Hanson.  Brad Moran registered the assist on the goal that shouldn’t have been a goal.    The Moose out shot the Monsters 20-5 in the first.  While it sounded lopsided, most of the shots were from way out or were not very good chances.

The second period WAS lopsided; the ice slanting entirely Manitoba’s way.  The Moose scored three in total second period domination.  While the Monsters out shot the Moose for the period, they were still trailing 31-18 in the pucks-on-goal department.  The first goal for the Moose came less one minute in.  Mark Derlago scored, with an assist to Brad Moran.  Three minutes later, Pierre-Cedric Labrie scored with assists to Gred Rallo and Michael Grabner.  Finally twelve plus minutes into the period, making it 4-1, was Mark Derlago assisted by Brad Moran yet again. Lake Erie mustered up a couple of rushes, but they were stonewalled by Moose Goalie Drew MacIntyre, who had a great outing.

The third period opened just like the second.  A minute and a half in, Manitoba scored on the power play on a shot over the left shoulder of Goalie Mike Wall. The goal was scored by Michael Grabner, assists by Colby Genoway and Danny Grouix.  Less than five minutes in, the Moose struck yet again, extending the lead to 6-1.  Mike Wall finally got the hook in favor of Tyler Weiman.  This goal was scored by Greg Rallo, assisted by Colby Genoway.  Just for yucks, the Moose added a seventh goal, this one scored by Danny Grouix, from Genoway and Baumgartner.  That put at least three moose in multiple points scoring for the day.

The Monsters finally got a retaliatory goal with six and a half minutes left in the game. The goal was registered by Eric Healey, assisted by Hensick and Lundmark. 

Even Mitch Love, the Monsters defenseman that has the most penalty minutes on the team for fighting, got his butt handed to him in a very uneven square off.

Another fight broke out between Disilva and Estrada, and it was a doozy.  Both men landed pretty good blows.  Both were escorted from the ice, as less than five minutes remained.  The only thing left for the crowd to hope for was the last four plus minutes would go by quickly, and no one on the Moose would end up with a hat-trick.  Mercifully, the game ended 7-2.

March 28^th is baseball cap night, dollar dog, and dollar Pepsi Night.  Every night face painting, hair painting, sign making and shooting the puck is free!!  You can’t beat that for

Third star of the game – Manitoba Michael Grabner

Second Star – Manitoba Mark Derlago

Star of the game – Manitoba Brad Moran