Touching Base with All-Star Jake Christiansen

On Saturday morning, Cleveland Monsters defender Jake Christiansen found out he would be replacing his teammate David Jiricek in the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic. While in Laval, I quickly touched base with Christiansen a few times over the course of the All-Star festivities to see how he was enjoying the weekend.

Full Press Coverage: What was going through your mind when you found out you were coming to the All-Star Classic?

Jake Christiansen : Yeah, I was excited. It’s cool to come and represent your team and meet a bunch of guys, new friends. I was excited. 

FPC : You just played two games back-to-back and now you’re adding two more days of crazy onto the weekend.

JC : That was obviously a cool weekend for us. Lumberjacks night. Two big crowds. Also, two big games with the tight standings and coming here. Obviously it’s nice to get to know a lot of guys and the fans in Laval are crazy too. It’s going to be fun and probably — hopefully — get some rest after that. 

FPC: What are you hoping to take from this weekend?

JC : Talk to some guys and maybe pick their brain a little bit and learn some stuff from other guys. Have fun.

FPC : There have been a lot of ups and downs with the Monsters this season. Kind of walk me through that. 

JC : We’ve had a little bit of everything in Cleveland this year. We’ve maybe lacked consistency a little bit. We’re working on it and we felt better about our game as of late. The standings are tight and they’re there for the taking. So, we’ve been working hard and are really excited for the future. 

FPC : Do you have any goals for the rest of the season ?

JC : It’s crunch time for us trying to get into the playoffs because it’s a playoff race. It’s just one game at a time worrying about that.

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I then caught up with Christiansen post-AHL Skills Competition to see how he was feeling about the weekend thus far.

FPC: Now that you have the Skills Challenge under your belt, how are you feeling about tomorrow’s All-Star Challenge? 

JC: I’m excited. It’s going to be fun getting to actually play 3-on-3. I haven’t done that in a while — the hardest shot, I haven’t tested that. So, I was a little curious on how that was going to go. Now that it’s behind me, I’m excited. 

FPC : The Monsters play quite a few games in overtime. So, 3-on-3 is nothing new to you, right?

JC: We tend to get into overtime a decent amount . I like that game. Obviously, It’s exciting. So, it should be a lot of fun tomorrow.

We touched base one final time after the AHL All-Star Challenge was finished.

FPC: How did it feel to play in your first AHL All-Star Game? 

JC: It was cool! Obviously, with my team having the Laval players and some other French guys, the crowd kind of got behind us. So, that was super cool. And then we tied it late and gave ourselves a chance. That was awesome. The crowd was amazing.

FPC : Do you think the Laval fans just love you now? 

JC : I don’t know. *laughs* I was actually thinking during the shootout like, “This is a lot of pressure. These fans are going to remember this.” They were rooting for us for sure. I can’t thank them enough. It was amazing. 

FPC : What was your favorite part about today ?

JC: I think just the fans. They were so loud in that last game. It was so cool. Definitely something I’ll remember forever.

FPC: You get back in town and you essentially hit the ground running with games on Friday and Saturday. Are you going to have time to soak this in ?

JC: Yea, I’m trying to soak it in as we go. It’s just a really cool event. I’ll keep the jersey. I’ll have that forever. Probably put it up in my room. This was awesome. I thank everyone so much for having me here. I’m excited to get back at it. We have a big push here in Cleveland and the standings are tight.