Cleveland Monsters (3) at Rockford IceHogs (4) – Shootout
Attendance: 4,693
Starters
Monsters
A,Broadhurst-Dalpe-T.Broadhurst
Austin-Kukan
Korpisalo
IceHogs
Highmore-Johnson-Pelletier
Gustafsson-Svedberg
Delia
Monsters Lines
A.Broadhurst-Dalpe-T.Broadhurst
Bittner-Camper-Koules
Scott-Vigneault-Kurker
Thurkauf-Maletta-Hodgson
Monsters Pairings
Austin-Kukan
Carlsson-Ramage
Benoit-Gaunce
Goal Recap
The Cleveland Monsters started the night off strong scoring the first two goals of the game.
Eleven and a half minutes into the first period Alex Broadhurst backhanded a pass from the faceoff circle to Sam Kurker who slammed it home for the goal.
Around three minutes later a series of beautiful passes from the Broadhurst brothers allowed Zac Dalpe to extend the Monsters lead over the IceHogs, 2-0
The Rockford IceHogs would then fire back with two goals of their own.
With under two minutes to go in the first period, Tomas Jurco picked up a shot that Tanner Kero had Matthew Highmore tied things up for the IceHogs 15 seconds into the second period after launching a shot from the faceoff circle.
The Monsters took the 3-2 lead 10:42 into the second period. Miles Koules one-timed a pass from Carter Camper into the back of the net.
Five minutes later the IceHogs tied the game up for the second time. Korpisalo denied Laurent Dauphin with a beautiful poke check. Tyler Sikura chased down the rebound and fired it into the net.
Neither team was able to score in the third or overtime. They headed to a shootout where Rockford would come out victorious.
First
Anthony Louis – Louis swung out to the right and then beat Korpisalo with a wicked wrister. – Goal
Zac Dalpe – Collin Delia accidentally left the net wide open. Dalpe backhanded his shot just wide of the net. – No Goal
Second
Tomas Jurco – Jurco tried to push the puck through Korpisalo’s five-hole but was denied. – No Goal
Terry Broadhurst – Broadhurst weaved to the left. Then weaved to the right. As we was trying to poke the puck into the net it bounced. – No Goal
Third
Viktor Svedberg – Svedberg went with the ballsy move of trying to slapshot during a shootout. The puck went wide of the net. – No Goal
Alex Broadhurst – Broadhurst tried to poke his shot through past Delia but was denied. – No Goal
But Wait! There’s More
Quick Thoughts
- Even though they started the game out strong, the Monsters seemed a hair off tonight. Once the IceHogs figured out this minor disconnection, they took advantage of it every way they could.
- Tonight was Sam Vigneault’s first time back in the lineup after missing four games. He did quite well. In the third period, he had a few great breakaways. Vigneault spent a lot of time on the ice during overtime and was pivotal in breaking up many plays.
- Jordan Maletta, Calvin Thurkauf, and Hayden Hodgson is an interesting line. They didn’t communicate as well as anticipated at the beginning of the game.
- The beauty of the Broadhurst brothers is they can have anyone center them.
- Dean Kukan came back from Columbus a more confident player and a bit faster. The only problem is he is now exponentially faster than the rest of the defense. /
3 Stars
1st – Matthew Highmore (1g, 1a)
2nd – Tomas Jurco (1g, 0a)
3rd – Alex Broadhurst (0g, 2a)
Game Stats
Captaincy Report
Carter Camper, Andre Benoit, and Zac Dalpe donned the “A” on their sweater tonight.
Milestones
Sam Kurker is riding a two-game point streak for the first time in his AHL career.
What’s Next
The Monsters head to Des Moines to take on the Iowa Wild on Sunday, January 7th at 6 pm.
The road trip continues Wednesday as they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Admirals.