Recap: Big Mistakes Kill Monsters

Chicago Wolves (5) at Cleveland Monsters (1)

Attendance: 8,170

Starters

Monsters

Gerbe-Scott-Schroeder

Austin-Cockerill

Zatkoff

Wolves

Tynan-Pirri-Kolesar

Reinhard-Bischoff

Lagace

Monsters Lines

A.Broadhurst-Stenlund-T.Broadhurst

Gerbe-Scott-Schroeder

Pendenza-Thurkauf-Hodgson

Kujawinski-Vigneault-Koules

Monsters Pairings

Austin-Cockerill

Gaunce-Collins

Savage-Graves

Goal Recap

Despite the fact both teams were all over each other, Chicago was the only team to score in the first period.

With 8:38 left in the first, Jeff Zatkoff stopped Wade Megan’s initial shot. Paul Thompson smacked the rebound through Zatkoff’s five-hole and it trickled across the goal line. Wolves led the Monsters 1-0.

Tomas Hyka extended the Wolves lead to 2-0 with 1:44 left in the first period.

The Wolves started the second off on the right skate extending their lead to 3-0 almost four minutes into the period.

Beau Bennett won the faceoff sending the puck towards Jake Bischoff who one timed it into the net.

Two minutes later the Monsters scored their first and only goal of the game.

Alex Broadhurst launched a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle. His brother, Terry, tipped it in for the goal.

With 9:23 left in the second period, the Wolves extended their lead to 4-1.

In the middle of a Monsters’ line change, Thompson raced down the ice with the puck. Cameron Gaunce tried to chase him down but just couldn’t match Thompson’s speed. Thompson did some nifty stickhandling before he fired the puck into the net.

The Monsters were able to hold the Wolves off until 5:24 into the third period.

Brandon Pirri launched a shot from near the top of the faceoff circle past Jeff Zatkoff’s blocker to extend their lead to 5-1.

As time wound down, things would become a bit unhinged.

A minute and a half after Pirri’s goal, Keegan Kolesar and Hayden Hodgson dropped the gloves. There is no doubt Kolesar won the round.

Almost two minutes later, Scooter Vaughan and Jacob Graves went to town on each other. Towards the end of the fight, Graves looked disinterested and the fight quickly ended in a tie.

The Monsters tried to make some magic happen in the back half of the period but Max Lagace was there to stop every attempt.

But Wait! There’s More

Quick Thoughts

• Despite Max Lagace putting on a show for most of the game, the  Monsters never quit and continued to attack the net.
• As of late, Scott Savage has been good at being in the right place at the right time. This has allowed him to break up many of the opponent’s passes.
• The second power play unit of Miles Koules, Ryan Collins, Garret Cockerill, Hayden Hodgson, and Kevin Stenlund looked good tonight. They were very methodical. Every pass had meaning.
• Ryan Collins laid hard hit like a mad man tonight.
• Terry Broadhurst is getting more aggressive as the season  goes on.
• After a not so hot stint on the first line, Justin Scott  looked fairly good on the second line. He had less turnovers, kept  the whiffing to a minimum, and was better at firing off good shots.
• Sam Vigneault and Kevin Stenlund swapped lines. Vigneault  centered the Broadhurst brothers. Stenlund centered Koules and Ryan  Kujawinski. Putting any new guy with Koules is always a good guy.  He’s incredibly encouraging and takes the time to talk out plays  with his linemates. If I was Stenlund, I wouldn’t view it as a  demotion because you will learn a lot of things while playing with  Koules. Vigneault also had a phenomenal game tonight. He deserved to  be on the first line. In the third period, Vigneault took a puck to  the head causing him to leave the game.   /

“He’s (Stenlund) played a different system on a bigger ice  surface and I thought Sam was playing extremely well. I rewarded him by playing with the Broadhurst brothers. He did well up there. Unfortunately, he got hit in the head.” - Head Coach John Madden

• The mistakes are really what kill this team. No one can sum it up better than Head Coach John Madden/

“Some of our mistakes are catastrophic. We play good hockey  for about seven minutes. They (Wolves) didn’t have a shot on net.  They get a two-on-one and a breakaway. There weren’t many mistakes.  When we did breakdown they were big and they capitalized. ” - Head  Coach John Madden

3 Stars

1st –  Max Lagace (40 shots faced, 39 saves, 60:00 TOI)

2^nd –  Paul Thompson (2g, 0a)

3^rd –  Jake Bischoff (1g, 0a)

Game Stats

Captaincy Report

Nathan Gerbe, Alex Broadhurst, and Cameron Gaunce wore the “A” for tonight’s tilt against the Wolves.

What’s Next

The San Diego Gulls come to town for the first time ever this weekend.

Saturday’s game starts at 7pm. Don’t forget to wear purple! It’s the “Purple Game” benefiting the American Cancer Society.

The first 10,000 fans will receive a purple game rally towel. Players will wear special purple jerseys which will be auctioned off.

Sunday’s game starts at 3 pm et.

The first 2,500 kids, 14 & under, will receive a set of player trading cards. There will also be a postgame skate!

Then the Monsters hit the road for a four game west coast road trip.