by The Cleveland Monsters celebrated the 2016 Lake Erie Monster Calder Cup Championship team tonight as they hosted the Belleville Senators. As was the 2016 Championship clincher, this game too came down to the wire with plenty of suspense as the Monsters pulled off a thrilling 6-5 victory.
The Monsters wasted no time at all electrifying the hometown crowd as the scored with just 2:54 gone by in the first period. A tremendous looking wrap around goal by Corson Ceulemans. His 8th goal of the year provided the Monsters with an early lead.
The game stayed that way for nearly 10 minutes before the Senators broke through to tie it. However, the Monsters refused to allow the tie to stick as they responded only seconds later with a goal, to retake the lead 2-1 with 7:39 to play in the opening period. It was Jack Williams with his 9th goal of the season to break the tie and place the ledger back on the side of the Monsters.
The momentum stayed firmly in the hands of Cleveland as less than 90 seconds could pass before they struck again. This one snuck through the corner on a crafty shot by Caleb McDonald, and just like that it was 3-1 Monsters with 5:55 to play in the opening period.
The first power play of the game also went the way of the Monsters as they had the chance to play with a man up but couldn’t convert. The period ended with the Monsters still up 3-1 as the outshot the Senators 15-10 in the period.
The second period began with a power play chance for Belleville as the Monster were accessed a tripping penalty at the last moment of the first period. The Monsters were able to snuff it out however, as the game remained 3-1.
The Senators tightened the lead a bit with a beautiful one timer that crossed up the Monster goalkeeper and found the back of the net. It was absolutely textbook. This made it 3-2 with 15:33 left to compete in the second.
It wouldn’t stay that way long however, as once again the Monsters didn’t take long to respond with a goal of their own. This one coming from the stick of Justin Pearson, his 8th of the season as the Monsters climbed back up by two with 12:59 left to play in the second period.
The sticks of the Monsters stayed hot as less then a minute later they were at it again. This time it was Owen Sillinger scoring his 10th goal of the season as the Monsters did a masterful job crowding the net. The Senators just kept coming however and made the back of the net cringe one more time before the period was over as the Monsters held a 5-3 lead after two periods of play.
The third period was a wild one to say the least. After a Senators goal just seconds into the third period, cutting the lead to 5-4 is was anyone’s game. It remained a one goal for quite some time until Brendan Gaunce scored to make it 6-4. The Sens would get one more with 1:02 left to play, but it was too little too late as the Monsters hung on to win.
The Monsters host the Belleville Senators on Saturday, January 31, at 7:00 p.m. at Rocket Arena as tribute weekend continues.
