Meet Your Monsters (The CBJ Perspective)

Hello, all! I was getting my offseason workload sorted out (the offseason is my busy season) and I thought “hey! why not introduce the CBJ and Monsters fan bases to each other along with giving some education on the respective teams to one another.

This is the first post of a two part series that will info from the Monsters fan perspective and the CBJ fan perspective (I know there is already some fan bleed over, but work with me here people). This first one will be for the Jackets fans. The Monsters fans will be later and they get to hear about all the new toys coming to the Q this fall.

Let’s start with a history lesson shall we?

To understand where the team came from you have to go back to the 2004-05 season, when the Utah Grizzlies of the AHL folded and returned the next season as a ECHL team. Then, in the 2005-06 season, the team that was in Cleveland, the Cleveland Barons (still one of my favorite logos ever) were moved by owner Gordon Gund to Worcester, Massachusetts to become the Sharks (what is it with owners moving teams from Cleveland to the Northeast?…too soon?). So, on May 16, 2006 Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert bought the Grizzlies AHL franchise and renamed them the Monsters starting in 2007. The Monsters are named in reference to Bessie – Lake Erie’s version of the Loch Ness Monster.

Looking at the numbers (I swear, the fun stuff is coming), The Monsters play in Quicken Loans Arena and are one of the best teams in terms of attendance in the AHL. They have finished third in attendance in three of the last five seasons and top five in another. Now, due to the logisitical demands of four AHL teams sharing arenas with NBA teams, their schedule doesn’t come out till much later this year (the ECHL schedule is already out for next year). But somehow, the Monsters have already announced six dates: the home opener which is October 16th and games on November 13 and 27; January 22 and 30; and February 5.

2014-15 will be the ninth season for the Monsters in the AHL. In those seasons they’ve made the playoffs once when they lost to a Claude Noel-coached Manitoba Moose team in seven games. The team’s all-time leading scorer is Andrew Agozzino (I’ll wait for you to say “who?!” Google him – he’s an Avs player) who scored 30 goals last year and set a franchise record putting up 165 points in 225 career games. Cal Pickard is one of the team’s top goalies. He tied the team record for wins with 23 last season and he also holds the all-times win mark with 60.

I compared Springfield and Lake Erie’s three seasons before they affiliated with the CBJ and, well, the Monsters were a much better team winning 102 of 228 games with a .521 point percentage. Looking at the  Falcons, those three years were at the end of the Edmonton Oilers’ dark days and the team won only 84 of 240 games (they played 80 games instead of the 76 they play now) with a .427 point percentage.

We know the NHL plays games against teams from both conferences but that won’t be the case with the Monsters. First things first, the Monsters are in the AHL’s Western Conference and they play in the Midwest Division. In other words, get ready to hear a lot about the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit), Rockford IceHogs (Chicago), Chicago Wolves (St Louis), Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville)…the old Central Division lives. Those four teams make up 36 of the Monsters 76 games.

Ok now for the fun stuff. First up, the Monsters mascot is Sullivan C. Goal (aka Sully) a Seagull. The Monsters also have the Monster Hockey Girls, and where the CBJ have the Scioto Downs Ice Crew, the Monsters have The Mullet Brothers. These Hanson Brother lookalikes (if you thought mmbop before Slap Shot go to your room) who clean up the ice during breaks. The Monsters also come onto the ice through a giant blow up version of their logo (and for the record, I still think the Jackets need a cannon to skate out through). Doug Plagens is both the TV and radio voice of the Monsters. Plagens began his play-by-play career while a student at Syracuse and filled in for Jackets radio guy Bob McElligott. To close out the in-game entertainment, from looking at the Monsters’ site and from what I hear they put on a great show (I’ll admit it folks, the last time I went to a Monsters game they were playing the then CBJ affiliate Syracuse Crunch in a fight fest).

Three jerseys hang from the rafters in Cleveland but none are Monsters players. The three are Johnny Bower who won 229 games for the Barons and 250 games in the NHL. The second belongs to Fred Glover who, in fifteen seasons with Cleveland, won four Calder Cups and three MVP awards. Glover also scored a career high 107 points in 1960 and retired in 1968 as the AHL’s career leader in games played (1,201), goals (520), assists (814), points (1,334) and penalty minutes (2,402). The final jersey belongs to Jock Callander who played the last seven years of his career with the Lumberjacks and served as a TV analyst/assistant coach (he was busy during games) for the Monsters last season.

Now, for long time followers, you know that jerseys are another thing I love to comment on (owning 117 of them helps). I thought the Avalanche’s maroon would be gone from the current design but, considering how fast this affiliation came together making major changes tough and also since maroon is a Cavs color(they call it wine though) it looks to be staying. Here are the Monsters home jerseys, away jerseys and the jersey it seems most people I talk to like (even if it goes against my stance of hating numbers on the front of jerseys) the team’s jerseys from the Frozen Frontier game against Rochester in 2013, (a game the Monsters won in a shootout). It’s been said a jersey collaboration between the two teams will be happening so we have that to look forward to. The Monsters also have numerous specialty jerseys worn and auctioned every year for various charities including one normally based on either the Browns or Cavaliers.

There you have it CBJ fans, a little lesson on the Jackets new affiliate. Monsters fans you’ll have to wait for a little for your version when we have a better idea of who will be playing in the Q this fall.