Official 1/06/07 Game Thread - Monsters vs. Bulldogs

Lake Erie Monsters (11-18-1-5) vs. Hamilton Bulldogs (13-15-1-5)
Date: Sunday, January 6th
Time: 5:00 p.m. ET
Arena: Quicken Loans Arena
Radio: Listen live here to ESPN 850 WKNR
Webcast: Live through B2

Sunday's Quick Facts:
The Monsters are coming off their second shutout in the past week and third overall this season. With Tyler Weiman in net, they defeated the IceHogs, 2-0, in Rockford last night.

Lake Erie is going up against a tough division foe tonight. The Hamilton Bulldogs are the defending AHL Calder Cup champions.

Center Jamie Lundmark brings a four-game scoring streak in tonight's game. It is the longest goal scoring streak in Monsters franchise history.

rough game...the Monsters were playing on their heels all night....and **** was it hot in the arena!! did they forget to pay the a/c bill or something??

There was very little redeeming about this game. Denisov played well all game and Purintan was very physical throughout. There were some really badly timed line shifts and an ALMOST penalty kill.

One of the worst aspects of the game was the dreaded AHL Ref issue -- total bushleague calls from those mopes. It was pretty frustrating to watch. How do you have almost EVERYONE on the ice in a fight/pile and nothing gets called at all? People were tripping like mad. One Bulldog was laying on Jeff Jillson's stick and caused a missed pass. Nothing called.

The Monsters would be well served to notify the AHL on this one. Terrible officiating.

And the applause sign was still annoying.

wow what a game, this team got spanked! coming off a shutout win the night before. this team lacks consistency, even though they played a back to back they cannot play consistent 60 minutes of hockey. the first period was expected, they came out firing on all cylinders then just as i expected they lost their wheels and lost the game.
dont these guys go through any conditioning? i know they played a game the night before but come on.
this team has all the tools but just cant put it together. they in theory can still make the playoffs if they can start winning. a winning streak it would be nice to see. i love hockey and am glad its back in cleveland (one of the first clubs of the ahl) i dont want to see it leave just like the last barons club.
so come on guys lets start winning some!

Ned,
Agree with the officiating but we came out in the 2nd FLAT.
Then it just got worse.
It was very warm in the arena last night. We finally went to an autograph session, I only got the Administers of Defense. Puritan & Love. Had them sign in red on my hat.
The worse part about the bad officiating is the bad power plays. WE SUCK ON POWER PLAYS.
They'd better get this team going and they better bring down the price of the ticket to match other AHL teams or we will be OUT THE DOOR.
I am tired of hearing people getting 2 for 1 for a seat I committed 40 games to at $23 a pop per seat.
They are getting them for $13.

yeah the officiating was bad. we sat on the other side of the arena when we normally sit on the attack twice side and i saw a butt load of calls the ref missed, including a couple of trips on wieman from hamilton that didnt get called and hamilton interfering with weiman.
i think the ahl should adopt the two ref system just like the nhl does, but who knows if they do that they will prolly still make dumb calls or no calls at all.

dead on. they played one period very well and then went to ****. i was excited at first intermission.

it was weird not seeing johnny boychuck out there. good luck to him in denver. i wanted to stick around and go to the autograph session, and i should have. that hat autograph sounds pretty awesome. i was daydreaming about having dale as a guest speaker at my school, then picking a fight with him so he'd beat me up and that would be the cherry on top of his reputation. he's a lot of fun to watch when he's on "our" side.

oh well, another one in the can. i feel for the STH. i buy discount vouchers on craigslist and ebay regularly. i got a crapload of $26 seats for less than $13 each. it's unfair, it's wrong and i'm actually getting a product commensurate with what i'm paying. STH got hosed. I hope they give BIG discounts for renewing. BIG discounts!

I have to agree with The Hansons...conditioning is a lot. I personally know someone who has attended 7 scheduled practices @ Hoover arena in Strongsville, Ohio to watch the monsters practice. Disappointingly, only 2 out of 7 scheduled practices did the team, including the coach appear on the ice to practice. How does a team that does not practice expect to win games and go to the playoffs?

I am soooo glad that we have this hockey team and want to see them win. I've been to numerous home games and have invited a number of my friends who didn't know hockey existed in cleveland to see these guys. for the most part, they are pleased with the team that we have.

I know our guys can be better and they know it too. So, I hope this last game teaches them something. No other team can get away without practicing, fans would be highly upset. AHL or NHL makes no difference...practice to get better, pratice to win and they will succeed.

GO MONSTERS! WE BELIEVE IN YOU!

i havent seen a practice yet, i live on the east side of cleveland and strongsville is a jaunt for me, so i have to here it from other people. it does disappoint me that they are not practicing but not all practices are on the ice, sometimes they're in the weight room working on their strength but they should always get on the ice for a little bit. **** i remember when we had to do two a days, one in the very early morning and then in the afternoon (i played a little bit of hockey).
these guys need to get back to basics. i know they are talented and i am not knocking that. i know how difficult it is to even get to the ahl, let alone the nhl. hockey is one of, if not the hardest sports there is out there to play.
the next home game they better come out ready to play and win.