by Cleveland, OH — The Cleveland Monsters were victorious Saturday evening, defeating the
Laval Rocket 2-0 in front of the ninth-largest crowd in team history on Teddy Bear Toss Night.
Early on, the Monsters were the more aggressive team and spent much of the first period in the
offensive zone. Rocket goalie Samuel Montembeault, who finished the night with 27 saves and
was named the third star of the game, was up to the challenge—turning away several strong
scoring chances.
At the 14:22 mark of the first period, Rocket center Florian Xhekaj was called for interference.
Moments later, the Monsters won a faceoff and set up their offense, where left winger Luca
Pinelli found the back of the net to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead—and set off an avalanche of teddy
bears from the crowd.
The crowd of 16,248 tossed a total of 30,164 teddy bears onto the ice.
Cleanup lasted so long that the game went into the first intermission with 4:34 remaining in the
opening period.
The next two periods saw both teams generate quality scoring opportunities, but both goalies
continued to stand tall. Monsters goalie Ivan Fedotov stopped all 18 shots he faced, making
several highlight-worthy saves on pucks that came oh-so-close to crossing the goal line.
Fedotov’s performance earned him the game’s first star.
In the final minute, the Rocket pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, but the Monsters’ defense
held firm. In the closing seconds, left winger Roman Achan found the empty net to secure the
victory.
Tonight’s win improves the Monsters to 12-9-3-1 on the season, good for 28 points. They’ll be
back in action Sunday afternoon when they travel to Grand Rapids to take on the Griffins. The
Monsters return home on Monday, December 29th, when they take on the Rochester
Americans
