After making short work of the Ontario Reign in the Western Conference Finals, the Monsters were off to Chocolate Town or Hershey, Pennsylvania for a battle of two of the most successful franchises…wait uhh cities in AHL history.
Starting in game one, the Bears took a 1-0 lead when Jakub Vrana struck for his eighth of the playoffs. The game went into the first intermission 1-0 before midway into the second, the Zaar would strike. In the corner, Aaron Ness lost the puck to Alex Broadhurst who found Daniel Zaar behind the defense all by himself and Zaar promptly snapped a shot from just above the circle to tie it at one. Early in the third, Ness helped the Monsters out again. Trent Vogelhuber skated from behind the net and fired a shot that went off Ness’ stick and past Peters to make it 2-1 Monsters. Late in the third, Ryan Stanton gathered a puck at the blueline and tried to skate it out of the zone but Zaar stripped the puck from him before skating in and sliding a shot past Peters to make it 3-1 Monsters. 1:36 later Oliver Bjorkstrand and Markus Hannikainen engaged in a board battle before getting the puck out to Dean Kukan. Kukan fired a shot that Hannikainen deflected to make it 4-1 and give the Monsters a 1-0 series lead. Anton Forsberg made 26 saves in win. In the Finals, teams that win game one had won 60 of 79 series. Here are Coach Bednar, Daniel Zaar and Trent Vogelhuber’s postgame comments.
In game two, the Monsters got started early when Sonny Milano skated the puck into the zone and began a passing play. Steve Eminger kept it in at the point before passing to TJ Tynan who passed to Ryan Craig. Craig found Zach Werenski who had an almost empty net to shoot into to make it 1-0. Early in the second, Erik Burgdoerfer skated into the zone and had his pass blocked. That sent Bjorkstrand and Lukas Sedlak off on a two on one with Bjorkstrand ultimately keeping it and firing to make it 2-0. Zach Sill scored to make it 2-1 about four minutes later. Still in the second, Eminger gathered a loose puck and passed to Hannikainen who passed to Kerby Rychel. Rychel skated into the zone and found Sedlak who scored on a one timer to give him his ninth of the playoffs. Early in the third, the Monsters went on the power play due to Ryan Stanton checking Bjorkstrand in the head off the faceoff (despite what the Hershey announcers thought). Bjorkstrand at the point passed to Kukan who passed to Zaar at the other point. Zaar hammered a shot that was stopped but Michael Chaput gathered the puck and dropped it to Oliver on the other side where he promptly scored (listen to how bitter the Hershey announcers are after). Hershey would score two goals within two minutes to try and make a game out of it but Zaar notched his third goal in Hershey when Chaput, out of a board battle, got the puck to Craig who set Zaar on a breakaway. Aaron Ness went full Hassan Chop to try and stop Daniel. Anton Forsberg made 27 saves in the win – the Monsters’ seventh in a row and 22nd in their last 26 games. Here are Oliver Bjorkstrand and Zach Werenski’s postgame comments.
For game three, the series moved to the Land of Cleve, (hmmm, Chocolate Town just sounds better) for the first Calder Cup game in Cleveland since May 13, 1966. The Bears took an early lead when Mike Stanton hammered a shot to make it 1-0 Bears. Later in the first, Bjorkstrand tipped a pass to start a two-on-one with Sedlak, (oh, I’ve seen this movie before). Sedlak passed to Oliver in the slot and Oliver hammered a shot from one knee to tie the game at one. Late in the second, Zaar struck again in the series when Kukan sent him the puck that Zaar then fired from the circle. Just 37 seconds later, the Bears scored to tie it and because of course it’s a school night, (sleep is for the weak) the game remained scoreless for the rest of regulation and headed into overtime. But unlike their last overtime game it wouldn’t go on as long. Off a faceoff, Sedlak got the puck to Hannikainen who then sent a pass to Steve Eminger. Eminger passed to Werenski who fired a shot that was stopped with who else but Bjorkstrand gathering the rebound and scoring for his ninth of the playoffs. Forsberg made 17 saves in the victory. here are Sedlak, Forsberg and Bjorkstrand’s postgame comments along with two radio interviews by Coach Jared Bednar – one on XM, the other with Cleveland’s Kenny Roda.
A few days before game 4, the Monsters got some sad news, that channeled into emotional motivation for the team. Assistant equipment manager and Cleveland hockey fixture Phil Simon passed away after a six year battle with Leukemia. The team wore stickers on their helmets that read “win it for Phil” and larger versions were handed out in-arena, (one player put one on his skate and there were many signs throughout the crowd). To honor the man who meant so much to hockey in Cleveland, before the game, the team recognized him with a tribute video. Following that, instead of the usual moment of silence the Monsters requested the crowd to join in a chant of “thank you Phil.”
"Thank You Phil"#BattleTogether #DoItForPhil https://t.co/mkx5thGupe
— Cleveland Monsters (@monstershockey) June 11, 2016
As for game four, remember during my Ontario recap when I said how watching double overtime games on TV doesn’t prepare you for watching them live? Yeah, well multiply that times a bazillion when it happens in a game four with a title on the line when the place was packed full with 19,665 people. That crowd made Saturday’s game the second biggest crowd to watch a Calder Cup Final game and the most attended game ever in the state of Ohio for hockey.
The big crowd pushed the AHL average to over 6000 fans for the first time ever in a season (regular season and playoffs). The game ended up as a goaltender’s duel with Forsberg and Justin Peters being perfect through five periods…well, almost for Peters. With 11.1 seconds remaining, Sedlak won a faceoff back to Werenski who fired a shot and gathered his own rebound before firing again. Sedlak was there again to get the puck and take a shot with who else but Oliver Bjorkstrand gathering the puck at the side of the net and firing a shot top left to clinch the Monsters their first ever Calder Cup Championship.
Here’s another angle of the game winner.
The overhead view of the Oliver Bjorkstrand game-winner! #CBJ #BattleTogether pic.twitter.com/uC3by8G3rR
— Buckeye State Hockey (@BuckeyeStHockey) June 12, 2016
And here’s the crowd when the game winner went in.
The exact moment you win the #CalderCup! @monstershockey has the best fans – Thank you for being a part of history! pic.twitter.com/0AU2e11tuG
— FieldHouse Creative (@rmfhcreative) June 13, 2016
In the win, his ninth in a row, Forsberg made 23 saves in the 1-0 shutout, his second of the playoffs. Oliver’s three game winning goals and six points in four games earned him the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy for playoff MVP.
Now for the video you’ve been waiting for:
⭕️ and ❌ if off Captain! #BattleTogether #CalderCupChamps https://t.co/rJgMqAcGbh
— Cleveland Monsters (@monstershockey) June 12, 2016
Here are Coach Bednar, Anton Forsberg and Josh Anderson’s postgame comments. And own Alison Lukan was on the ice and documented the Cup pass along with more from the on ice celebration.
Now for some record making:
- The game winning goal gave Oliver part of one AHL record and another straight up. His six game winning goals tied the league record and set a new record for the most overtime game winners.
- The Monsters nine game winning streak tied the third longest playoff winning streak (previously held solely by another Cleveland-based team in the 1964 playoffs.
- Jared Bednar joins Minnesota Wild coach Bruce Boudreau as the only coach to win the ECHL’s Kelly Cup (South Carolina 08-09) and the AHL’s Calder Cup.
- Oliver Bjorkstrand and Lukas Sedlak finished one-two in AHL playoff goal scoring and were tied for third in playoff scoring.
- Zach Werenski’s 14 points in the playoffs were the most by an under-19 player and by a under-20 defenseman.
- The Monsters got to celebrate their championship on Tuesday, June 14th, a date that officially became “Lake Erie Monsters Day” in honor of the team ending Cleveland’s championship drought.
As for next season’s roster, it all depends on what happens this summer. The Monsters have a few key free agents to re-sign. The main ones are Forsberg and back-to-back leading scorer TJ Tynan. Other than a few players possibly making the Jackets out of camp, the Monsters could look very familiar next season.
There you have it folks – it’s time to start hitting the draft coverage hard as we are in the final weeks before my two favorite days of the summer. I’ll be back with my mock draft soon and hopefully I’ll be able to add to my total of 2.5 correct picks among many many wrong picks.
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