Up and Down Start to November for Cleveland

By The Numbers

Record: 7-3-1-0, 15 points
Goals/Game: 3.45
Goals Against/Game: 3.36
Shots/Game: 29.91
Power Play % (Rank): 26.2% (2^nd in league)
Penalty Kill % (Rank): 74.0% (30^th in league)
Leading Scorer (Overall): Trey Fix-Wolansky; 16
Most Goals: Carson Meyer; 5
Most Assists: Trey Fix-Wolansky; 12
Next Game: Thursday, November 16^th vs. Rochester

(stats as of 11/13/2023)

The first two weeks of November have been a bit of a roller coaster for the Cleveland Monsters. For the sake of imagery, the roller coaster analogy extends to the Little Dipper at the Memphis Kiddie Park in Cleveland, Ohio. It is in no way shape or form meant for you to channel visions of people screaming their heads off in terror as they plummet down the hills of the Millennium Force at Cedar Point.

The Monsters’ November rollercoaster is fun mixed with a few things that go bump in the night, like turning pucks over at the blue line or allowing your goaltender to be completely surrounded by the opponent. There was a lot of good this week but not a lot of great. There was a bit of bad, but nothing so disastrous that Cleveland couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole.

Game 7: Cleveland Monsters 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 3 – Shootout

Despite beating the Grand Rapids Griffins in a thrilling shootout, Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber was less than thrilled about the win.

“Everything is process based, not necessarily results. I thought it was arguably our worst game of the year,” said Vogelhuber.

From execution to decision making to energy, Vogelhuber felt the Monsters could have been better and could have closed out the game long before heading to a shootout against their longstanding foe.

Now, to their credit, the Monsters were able to score two power play goals during the five power plays they had in the second period.

“We got two big goals out of it. So, that’s obviously good,” said Vogelhuber. “Just energy wise, I didn’t think our group had a whole lot. But, they usually perk up a little bit when the power play comes around.”

In the final minutes of the third period, the Griffins pulled Sebastian Cossa for the extra attacker. Seems innocent enough, but Grand Rapids did the same exact move against Cleveland two games before this one, and the result was the exact same – Tim Gettinger tying the game from the near the crease. Technically, Monsters forward Owen Sillinger tied the game for the Griffins, but it wouldn’t have happened if Gettinger wasn’t in the mix taking multiple whacks at the puck.

So, why was Gettinger able to score the game-tying goal in both situations? Because the Griffins mapped out the exact same play each time, and for some reason, the Monsters didn’t see it coming.

As I explained earlier, it took a shootout to decide the winner of this game. Luckily, Cleveland’s netminder Jet Greaves basically stood on his head in both overtime and the shootout to help secure the win. We also have to give stick taps to Mikael Pyyhtia, who scored the game-winning shootout goal after faking out Cossa and making him fall to the ground. After Cossa hit the ice, Pyyhtia was able to launch the puck up and into the net for the win.

Last night's Mikael Pyyhtia shootout winner 🎯@monstershockey | #GRvsCLE pic.twitter.com/4YGyERba7A

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) November 2, 2023

Scoring: Trey Fix-Wolansky, 1g 2a; Yegor Chinakhov, 2g 1a; Nick Blankenburg, 0g 2a; Jake Christiansen, 0g 1a

In net: Jet Greaves, saved 35 of 38

Game 8: Cleveland Monsters 3, Providence Bruins 7

For the first time in over 50 years, Providence and Cleveland met to play a game of AHL hockey. Unfortunately for the Monsters, the Bruins scored a touchdown and made the extra point in their historical meeting.

The score wasn’t quite indicative of how the Monsters played for the bulk of the game. In fact, Coach Vogelhuber thought the team played better in the 7-3 loss than the 4-3 shootout win against the Griffins a few days before.

“I think our execution overall was a little bit better. Just some decisions were poor,” Vogelhuber said of the difference between games.

Defender Billy Sweezey even agreed by praising the Monsters for their solid effort in the first two periods of the game. However, when the third period rolled around, the team was just a bit different.

“I think we had a couple breakdowns. Turning the puck over a little too much (and) not really paying attention to our details that we talked about as a team,” Sweezey explained of the third period breakdown. “I think when that starts breaking down you start losing the bounces.”

Now, there were a few changes to the line-up with Kent Johnson making his AHL debut after swapping leagues with Yegor Chinakhov, who earned a call-up to the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier in the day. Taking away one of your best players on special teams can harm a team’s chemistry, but both Vogelhuber and Sweezey don’t believe the new faces and rosters swaps were part of the third period breakdown.

"We don’t like to blame that. It’s next man up here. We expect everyone to perform. I think it was a full team thing too. I don’t think it really can be put on anybody. I think we have more & we know it"- Sweezey on if new faces hurt their game tonight#CLEMonsters @FPC_AHL pic.twitter.com/gEYJz02k06

— Elaine Shircliff (@imaraindancer) November 4, 2023

During the disastrous third period, defender Nick Blankenburg scored a power play goal to give himself a five-game point streak. After watching him play this season, it’s no surprise that Blankenburg is finding success on the stat sheet.

“He plays in every facet of the game for us,” said Vogelhuber. “He’s direct. He does it the right way. He plays hard. He competes. Obviously, he has skill to go along with it. There’s no accident why he has a point streak like that.”

Sweezey echoed a lot of the same sentiments but added, “He brings stuff off the ice, too. That’s great. He’s a great energy. He’s a great guy in the room. So, we’re definitely happy to have him.”

Scoring: Nick Blankenburg, 1g 0a; Luca Del Bel Belluz, 1g 0a; Carson Meyer, 1g 0a; Brendan Gaunce, 0g 1a, Trey Fix-Wolansky, 0g 2a; Mikael Pyyhtia, 0g 1a; Kent Johnson, 0g 2a

In net: Jet Greaves, saved 25 of 32

Around The AHL

• Wolf Pack Topple Phantoms on Teddy Bear Toss Night
• High Eagles Effort Stymied by Wallstedt
• Admirals’ Offense Struggles in Loss to Griffins
• Leafs Digest – 12/1 – MASSIVE Trade Incoming?
• The Success of the Cleveland Monsters

Game 9: Cleveland Monsters 5, Providence Bruins 4

Cleveland was able to bounce back from their 7-3 loss by beating Providence 5-4 in regulation. Bounce back is probably the best way to describe this game as both teams spent time bouncing the lead back and forth between each other. When one scored, the other scored. It was almost like watching a game of hot potato.

Coach Vogelhuber wasn’t happy with the back-and-forth score, but he was happy with his players’ resolve.

“That’s part of the process for them: managing the ups and downs of a hockey game,” said Vogelhuber. “An emotional hockey game with a good crowd on a Saturday night — not getting too high, not getting too low. Credit to them, they responded after the lows. But we can learn about managing those emotions and still get ting the job done after the highs as well.”

One player who handled adversity well during the game was rookie James Malatesta, who scored his first professional goal in the second period. After Malatesta found the back of the net, his confidence skyrocketed, and he spent the rest of the game zipping around the ice on a mission to help find a way to turn more plays into goals.

Why would finding the back of the net give a young guy such a large pep in his step afterwards? Coach Vogelhuber took a moment to explain the inner workings of a hockey player’s mind to us during the postgame press conference.

“It gives them belief that they can play and be impactful at this level and at the pro game,” explained Vogelhuber. “We’re still early in the season and a lot of young players are trying to find their way, their groove, (and) their role. So, just to have that weight off the shoulders — to know you can do it –can do a lot for a younger player.”

Scoring: James Malatesta, 1g 0a; Josh Dunne, 1g 0a; Jake Christiansen, 1g 1a; Trey Fix-Wolansky, 1g 0a; Luca Del Bel Belluz, 1g 1a; Nick Blankenburg, 0g 1a; Brendan Gaunce, 0g 1a; Owen Sillinger, 0g 1a; Samuel Knazko, 0g, 1a; Hunter McKown, 0g 1a; Marcus Bjork, 0g 2a; Kent Johnson, 0g 1a

In net: Pavel Cajan, saved 25 of 29

Game 10: Cleveland Monsters 4, Belleville Senators 2

The Monsters hit the road for a weekend getaway in Ontario to take on the Belleville Senators.

Throughout the game, there were multiple times Cleveland was playing chess while Belleville was playing Candyland. Each play was full of quick, sharp passes and smooth puck movement filled with inspiration. In a sense the Monsters were, as the kids say, vibing and thriving.

Although Mads Sogaard stopped the shot, passing and play movement out of Cleveland was quite beautiful.

The second line of Luca Del Bel Belluz, Brendan Gaunce, and Carson Meyer are playing Chess tonight while the B-Sens are playing Candy Land#CLEMonsters #ForTheB @FPC_AHL pic.twitter.com/0PhkuVqH9b

— Elaine Shircliff (@imaraindancer) November 11, 2023

But then, the back half of the third period arrived, and things began to unravel. The aggressive style of play in the second period began to bubble over towards the end of the game causing the Monsters to lose focus on the task at hand. This allowed the Senators to find the chink in the Monsters’ armor – the abandoned doorstep. Greaves is a good goaltender but he can’t do everything — no one can. Yet for some reason, during the final period of play, Cleveland continued to leave him alone to defend the Belleville onslaught coming to crash his crease. So, what should have been a shutout for Greaves ended up being a 4-2 win for the Monsters.

People will say a “win is a win” but we all know Vogelhuber and the Monsters have zero happy emotions about letting in two goals in the final 4:39 of the game.

Scoring: Kent Johnson, 2g 0a; Stanislav Svozil, 1g 1a; Brendan Gaunce, 1g 0a; Nick Blankenburg, 0g 2a; Hunter McKown, 0g 1a; Trey Fix-Wolansky, 0g 2a; Mikael Pyyhtia, 0g 1a

In net: Jet Greaves, saved 27 of 29

Game 11: Cleveland Monsters 1, Belleville Senators 2 – Overtime

The Senators played a much different game against the Monsters when they met a few days later. They were able to keep up with Cleveland’s every move, which allowed them the confidence to play a more offensive minded game. During a post game interview with their local media, Senators Head Coach David Bell explained this was one of the better games his squad has played all season.

“I think they were ticked off at their performance from Friday, so they wanted to have a response game, and I think they did,” said Coach Bell. “I think it was probably, over the course of our first 11 games, the most sustained pressure we’ve had on the o-zone over and over.”

This constant pressure in Belleville’s offensive zone forced Cleveland to abandon some of their fancy plays and stick with the fundamentals.

The evenly matched game ended with Angus Crookshank finding the back of the net 1:05 into overtime to give the Senators the 2-1 win.

Scoring: Jake Christiansen, 1g 0a; James Malatesta, 0g 1a; Tyler Angle, 0g 1a
In net: Pavel Cajan, saved 34 of 36

Next up for the Monsters is middle of the week romp with their North Division foe – the Rochester Americans – on Thursday, November 16^th, 2023 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.