by The Cleveland Monsters were on the road this past weekend, facing off against the Hershey Bears at the Giant Center on Saturday, January 10, and again on Sunday, January 11. The Monsters fell short on Saturday but were able to come back to secure the victory on Sunday. This now makes the Monsters 17-12-4-1, and they are in fifth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Saturday, January 10
The Monsters kicked off the weekend with a hard-fought battle against the Bears on Saturday night. Cleveland took an early lead in Saturday’s game when Tate Singleton opened the first period with a goal at 5:33 with help from Hunter McKown and Max McCue. The Bears tied the game at 12:26 in the first period, making the score 1-1.
After a scoreless second frame, the Bears pulled a 2-1 lead at just 1:05 into the final segment. Cleveland was able to capitalize on the power play when Luca Del Bel Belluz tied the game at 11:45 with an assist from Jordan Dumais and Owen Sillinger. The Bears managed to regain their lead quickly, scoring their third goal at 13:39 to end the game in a 3-2 loss for the Monsters. Ivan Fedotov was in goal for the Monsters on Saturday and saved 28 of the total 31 shots on goal.
The game against the Monsters and the Bears also featured an exciting intermission when the youth hockey ‘Mites on Ice’ segment turned into an all-out brawl involving the players from the Central Penn Panthers Youth Ice Hockey Club. Both teams had players involved in the fight that quickly escalated, even getting the teams’ goalies involved, and gaining widespread attention.
Sunday, January 11
The Bears took an early lead in Sunday’s game with their first goal at 1:37 in the first period. The Monsters Luca Del Bel Belluz was able to take advantage of the power play in the middle of the period to score Cleveland’s first goal of the night at 11:25 with an assist from Jordan Dumais and Luca Pinelli to end the first twenty minutes in a 1-1 tie.
The Bears scored the only goal of the second period to head into the final frame with a 2-1 lead. Tate Singleton came out hot when he was able to tie the game once again at 1:29 of the third period with help from Jack Williams. With the game forced into overtime, the Monsters took advantage and secured the win at 2:57 into extra time. Jack Williams scored the overtime game-winner for Cleveland with Owen Sillinger and Corson Ceulemans on the assist to end the game 3-2. Zach Sawchenko was in the net for the Monsters on Sunday and made 28 saves out of the total 30 shots on goal.
What’s Next
The Cleveland Monsters’ road trip will continue as they travel to the Amica Mutual Pavilion on Saturday, January 17, at 7 p.m., where they will face off against the Providence Bruins. For coverage of the game, tune into WTAM 1100, SportsRadio 99.1 Powered by Rock Entertainment Group, AHLTV on FloHockey, and the Monsters Hockey Network.
Image sourced via Google Images.
