Lake Erie Monsters
| Lake Erie Monsters | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Cleveland, Ohio |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Conference | Western Conference |
| Division | North Division |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Home arena | Quicken Loans Arena |
| Colors | Wine, Black, White, Blue, Yellow |
| Owner(s) | Dan Gilbert |
| General manager | David Oliver |
| Head coach | David Quinn |
| Media | ESPN 850 WKNR AM 1220 WHKW WUAB My 43 FS Ohio |
| Affiliates | Colorado Avalanche (NHL) Allen Americans (CHL) |
| Franchise history | |
| 1994–1995 | Denver Grizzlies |
| 1995–2005 | Utah Grizzlies |
| 2007–present | Lake Erie Monsters |
The Lake Erie Monsters are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They began play in the 2007–08 AHL season at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The team is an affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Lake Erie Monsters began with the revival of the dormant Utah Grizzlies franchise purchased by an Cleveland ownership group led by Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team and Quicken Loans on May 16, 2006. The team was relocated to Cleveland to replace the former Cleveland American Hockey League tenant, the Cleveland Barons, who had moved to Massachusetts to compete as the Worcester Sharks following the 2005–06 season.[1] With the Quicken Loans Arena established as the team's home venue the Colorado Avalanche were announced as the franchise's primary NHL affiliate with a five-year agreement on December 17, 2006.[2]
On January 25, 2007, the franchise was announced by Dan Gilbert as the Lake Erie Monsters, referring to Bessie, a creature of local folklore. The name was chosen from researching focus groups around the Cleveland area and the logo incorporated the Geographical connection in the Region with Lake Erie.[3] With the team colors of Wine, Black, White, Yellow and Blue, the Monsters secondary logo was chosen instead to feature on the front jerseys.[4]
Former NHL player, Joe Sacco who had been coaching within the Avalanche's affiliate organizations for the past three-years, was named as the Monsters first head coach and was joined by former Avalanche and NHL defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre as an assistant on May 7, 2007.[5]
With Lake Erie placed to compete in the North Division of the American Hockey League.[6] The Monsters opened their inaugural 2007–08 campaign at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins on October 6, 2007.[7]
On November 11, 2010, it was announced that the Avalanche and Monsters agreed on a multi-year extension to their current agreement.[8] The terms of this extension were not disclosed as per NHL/AHL policy.
This market was previously served by:
- Cleveland Indians (1929–1934) IHL*
- Cleveland Falcons (1934–1936) IHL*
- Cleveland Falcons (1936–1937) AHL*
- Cleveland Barons (1937–1972) AHL*
- Cleveland Crusaders (1972–1976) WHA
- Cleveland Barons (NHL) (1976–1978) NHL
- Cleveland Lumberjacks (1992–2001) IHL
- Cleveland Barons (2001–2006) AHL
(*) - same team
[edit] Season-by-season results
[edit] Regular season
| Season | Games | Won | Lost | OTL | SOL | Points | Goals for |
Goals against |
Standing | Avg. Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–08 | 80 | 26 | 41 | 6 | 7 | 65 | 209 | 276 | 6th, North | 5,974 |
| 2008–09 | 80 | 34 | 38 | 3 | 5 | 76 | 199 | 218 | 6th, North | 5,934 |
| 2009–10 | 80 | 34 | 37 | 1 | 8 | 77 | 234 | 257 | 6th, North | 6,484 |
| 2010–11 | 80 | 44 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 96 | 223 | 206 | 2nd, North | 6,568 |
[edit] Playoffs
At the end of the 2010-11 season the Monsters made it into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. After gaining a 3-1 game lead over the Manitoba Moose they lost in game 7 4-1 and lost the round.
| Season | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Finals | Avg. Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–08 | Did Not Make AHL Playoffs | ||||
| 2008–09 | Did Not Make AHL Playoffs | ||||
| 2009–10 | Did Not Make AHL Playoffs | ||||
| 2010–11 | L, 3-4, Manitoba | — | — | — | 8,069 |
[edit] Current roster
Updated January 29, 2012.[9]
[edit] Team records
- Franchise First Game: October 6, 2007. Grand Rapids Griffins 3, Lake Erie Monsters 2
- Franchise First Win: October 20, 2007. Lake Erie Monsters 3, Syracuse Crunch 2.
- Franchise First Goal: October 6, 2007. Grand Rapids Griffins 3, Lake Erie Monsters 2. Goal scored by Matt Hussey
- Franchise First Shutout: November 15, 2007. Jason Bacashihua. Lake Erie Monsters 2, Quad City Flames 0.
- Franchise First Hat Trick: November 17, 2007. Chris Stewart. Lake Erie Monsters 5, Toronto Marlies 3.
- Franchise Most Goals in a Game: December 3, 2010. 4-Patrick Rissmiller. Lake Erie Monsters 6, Chicago Wolves 3.
- Franchise Most Wins in a Season: 44 (2010–11)
- Franchise Most Points in a Season: 96 (2010–11)
- Franchise Most Games Won in a Row: 8 (2010–11)
[edit] Single season
- Goals: 26
Brian Willsie (2009–10), 
Matt Ford (2010–11) - Assists: 50 T.J. Hensick (2009–10)
- Points: 70 T.J. Hensick (2009–10), Ben Walter (2010–11)
- Penalty Minutes: 213 Mitch Love (2007–08)
- Wins: 23 Jason Bacashihua (2010–11)
- GAA: 2.29 Jason Bacashihua (2010–11)
- SV%: .917 Jason Bacashihua (2010–11)
- Shutouts: 8 Tyler Weiman (2008–09)
- Goaltending records need a minimum 25 games played by the goaltender
[edit] Career
- Career Goals: 39 T.J. Hensick, Ryan Stoa, Matt Ford
- Career Assists: 92 T.J. Hensick
- Career Points: 131 T.J. Hensick
- Career Penalty Minutes: 248 Patrick Bordeleau
- Career Goaltending Wins: 51 Tyler Weiman
- Career Shutouts: 13 Tyler Weiman
- Career Games: 173 Ray Macias
[edit] Playoffs
- Franchise First Playoff Game: April 16, 2011. Lake Erie Monsters 6, Manitoba Moose 4.
- Franchise First Playoff Goal: April 16, 2011. Lake Erie Monsters 6, Manitoba Moose 4. Goal scored by Matthew Ford.
- Franchise First Playoff Win: April 16, 2011. Lake Erie Monsters 6, Manitoba Moose 4.
[edit] Radio and TV
The Monsters' flagship radio stations are WKNR AM 850 (which has been on board since the beginning of the franchise) and WHKW AM 1220. When on AM 1220, the games will be also be heard on Youngstown sister station WHKZ AM 1440 (which simulcasts the bulk of WHKW's schedule). Each station will air 38 games. Prior to 2010-2011, all games were heard on WKNR, but a number of games were aired on tape delay because of conflicts with other programming. The dual flagship arrangement allows for all 76 games to be aired live. Doug Plagens is the radio voice of the team. For select daytime games, WKNR will slide the game over to sister station WWGK AM 1540.
On the TV side, fifteen games will be televised, with the games spilt between FS Ohio (10 games), and Cleveland My Network TV affiliate WUAB channel 43 (5 games). Doug Plagens is the play by play voice, along with former Cleveland Lumberjacks star Jock Callander serving as analyst and WKNR evening co-host Kenny Roda as locker room reporter. When a Monsters game is televised, the broadcast will be simulcast on the radio.
[edit] References
- ^ "New American Hockey League Team Takes the Ice at Quicken Loans Arena for the 2007-08 Season". Lake Erie Monsters. 2006-05-16. http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/news/news/?article_id=2. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
- ^ "Cleveland to be Primary Avalanche affiliate". American Hockey League. 2006-12-17. http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/news/news/?article_id=1. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
- ^ "Lake Erie Monsters announced as new team name". Lake Erie Monsters. 2007-01-25. http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/news/index.html?article_id=3. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
- ^ "Monsters dress for success!". Lake Erie Monsters. 2007-09-05. http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/news/news/?article_id=32. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
- ^ "Joe Sacco and Sylvain Lefebvre Named Coaches". Lake Erie Monsters. 2007-05-07. http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/news/news/?article_id=7. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
- ^ "AHL announces division alignment for 2007-08". American Hockey League. 2007-05-30. Archived from the original on 2007-07-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20070709200031/http://www.theahl.com/news/league/index.html?article_id=7792. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
- ^ "Monsters announce 2007-08 schedule". Lake Erie Monsters. 2007-08-07. http://lakeeriemonsters.com/news/index.html?article_id=22. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
- ^ "Monsters and Avs Announce Extension". Lake Erie Monsters. 2010- 11-11. http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/news/news/index.html?article_id=947. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ^ "Lake Erie Monsters - Team roster". Lake Erie Monsters. http://lakeeriemonsters.com/team/roster/. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lake Erie Monsters |
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