Cleveland Monsters

Early years

The team emerged in 2007 after businessman Dan Gilbert acquired the Utah Grizzlies AHL franchise (the AHL team from Utah ceased to exist in 2005, after which the eponymous team appeared on ECHL ). This deal came about after Cleveland Barons moved to Massachusetts to become Worcester Sharks in 2001-2006 in Cleveland. The team is named after Bessie , the serpentine creature supposedly living in Lake Erie .

In the 2007–08 season , the Monsters played their first home game in their history, the Grand Rapids Griffins became their rival, on October 6, 2007. The first general manager of the team was Craig Billington , and Joe Sacco was appointed head coach.

At the end of the 2010-11 season , the Monsters for the first time in history entered the playoffs of the Calder Cup, where the Manitoba Mus team became their rival in the opening round. Having led in the series with a score of 3-1, the “monsters” managed to lose the next three matches and fly out with a score of 3-4.

Columbus Blue Jackets Era

On April 17, 2015, the Monsters announced the signing of a multi-year affiliation agreement with the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team, which began in the 2015–16 season . This was the next geographical rapprochement between the “main” and “subsidiary” teams, which the leagues conducted during that offseason.

“Monsters” finished the season 2015-16 with the best result in history in terms of points (97) and reached the playoffs for the second time in history. On April 23, 2016, the Monsters went through the first round, beating the Rockford Icehogs with a score of 5-3, the series went through to three victories and ended in dry season. Further, in the semifinals of the AHL Western Conference, the “monsters” passed the “griffins” from Grand Rapids with a score of 4-2, and the format already implied a seven-match series. More in this playoff, the Monsters have never lost. In the final of the conference, Ontario Rain was defended, which defended the AHL champion title, and in the final series of the Calder Cup with the same score 4-0 was taken out by Hershey Bears . The decisive game took place on June 11, 2016, and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the winning goal in overtime.

This AHL champion title was the first for a team from Cleveland many years later, the last time Barons won it back in 1964, and in total, clubs from Cleveland won it 10 times. Also, the decisive game showed the second result in the history of Ohio in attendance at a hockey game (19,665). The record was set on February 3, 1996, when 19,941 people came to the Cleveland Lambergex game against Minnesota Mus . In addition, this is also the second result in the history of the Calder Cup, the record belongs to Chicago Wolves and Philadelphia Phantoms and amounts to 20.103 people. This happened in the 4th game of the Calder Cup finals in 2005 .

On August 9, 2016, Lake Erie Monsters changed their name to Cleveland Monsters. Under the new name, the team was unable to reach the playoffs in the 2016-17 season .

These teams used to play in Cleveland. The Monsters have memorialized them with banners under the vaults of the Quicken Lones Arena.

• Cleveland Indiana / Falcons / Barons (1929-1936 IHL ) (1936-1973 AHL ) - nine- time Calder Cup champion
• Cleveland Crusaders (1972-1976) BHA
• Cleveland Barons (1976-1978) NHL
• Cleveland Lambergex (1992-2001) IHL
• Cleveland Barons (2001-2006) AHL

Season

Goals (30) - Andrew Agozzino (2014-15)

Assists (50) - TJ Hensick (2009-10)

Points (70) - TJ Hensick (2009-10), Ben Walter (2010-11)

Penalty (215) - Dan Maggio (2014-15)

Goal conceded ratio (2.11) - Cedric Desjardins (2011-12)

Club Career

Goals - 67 - Andrew Agozzino

Assists - 98 - Andrew Agozzino

Points - 165 - Andrew Agozzino

Penalty - 522 - Dan Maggio

Goalkeeper Wins - 60 - Calvin Picard

Games - 225 - Andrew Agozzino

Team Official Website