Cleveland Takes a Bite Out of Syracuse

CLEVELAND – After a week away, the Cleveland Monsters returned to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to take on the Syracuse Crunch in a mid-week romp. Things got off to a rather interesting start when the game was delayed due to the fact both teams were wearing white jerseys during warm-ups. Since Syracuse travelled to Cleveland with only their white jerseys, the Monsters were the ones tasked with a quick change in the locker room. 

As stressful as a situation like this can be, Cleveland’s Head Coach  Mike Eaves said the Monsters were not going to let the last minute costume change ruin their focus on the task at hand. “We have a saying that you control what you can control, and we couldn’t control that,” Eaves explained. Nevertheless, the Monsters struggled to get into game mode fast enough to prevent the Crunch from scoring in the first 1:06 of the match-up. 

By the time the two-minute mark hit, the Monsters were starting to vibe with one another. Their skating became quick and their nonverbal communication was the best it has been all season. This newfound energy and chemistry led to Cleveland defender Thomas Schemitsch’s tying goal 2:16 into the first period. 

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It took the Monsters three tries before they found the back of the net for their first goal of the night. Brendan Gaunce started the play in a foot race towards the Crunch’s netminder Amir Miftakhov. As Gaunce neared the right side of the net, he fired off a shot that Miftakhov was able to kick towards the boards to the left. The puck bounced off the boards and sailed towards the faceoff circle. Jake Christiansen quickly descended upon the puck before slapping a shot just a hair wide of the net. Thinking that the puck was going to bounce straight back to the front of the net, Miftakhov moved all the way to his right in an attempt to seal up that section of the goal. The memo was not sent to the puck, as it bounced off the boards and headed to the other side of the ice. An unattended Schemitsch was then able to smoothly snipe the puck into the back of the open net. 

Thomas Schemitsch shoots into a wide open net to tie the game at one for the Cleveland Monsters 2:16 into the first. #SYRvsCLE #CLEMonsters #MonstersXV @FPC_AHL pic.twitter.com/2rOSSvmr7H

— Elaine Shircliff (@imaraindancer) November 18, 2021

Schemitsch’s goal would be the last one scored for quite some time in the game. However, this didn’t stop the Crunch and Monsters from spending the rest of the first period and the first half of the second creating scoring chances which kept Miftakhov and Cleveland netminder Daniil Tarasov on their toes. . 

As time ticked down in the second period, both teams grew hungry for the tie-breaking goal. “Hangry” might be a better description of how they acted during the back half of the second period. Tempers began to flare with each tick of the clock. Shots on goal were replaced with punches to the face and headlocks. 

Feelings of aggression flowed into the third period, but began to damper when the Crunch and Monsters shifted their focus to the task at hand — trying to win a game. As time slowly wound down, shots were flying and plays were being executed to near perfection. However, for the final 3:38 of the third period, neither team would allow the other to get anywhere near the goal to fire off a high danger chance shot. 

In the end, the hero of the day ended up being Monsters forward Tyler Angle,who scored the game winner after catching the Crunch during a line change 1:08 into overtime.

“I told Chris (Jake Christiansen) to get going, and he made a nice play to me. I kind of caught it under my foot, held onto it, and then Sikki (Tyler Sikura) faked him a little bit by calling for it,” explained Angle. “I just kind of turned around and threw it to the net trying to hit him.”

The Crunch and Monsters meet again in Cleveland on Friday night at 7pm CT.