Official 3/25/08 Game Thread - Monsters vs. Moose

Lake Erie Monsters (25-32-5-7) vs. Manitoba Moose (40-24-2-3)
Date: Tuesday, March 25th
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Arena: Quicken Loans Arena
Radio: Listen live here to ESPN 850 WKNR
Webcast: Live through B2

Tuesday's Quick Facts:
North division foes Lake Erie and Manitoba will meet for the eighth time tonight. The Moose hold a 5-1-1-0 advantage over the Monsters. Manitoba has won all three games in Cleveland. The teams have not met since New Year's Day, in Manitoba. The Moose are in second place in the North, while the Monsters hold tight in the fifth spot.

In the season series with Manitoba, Eric Healey has recorded six points (2G, 4A). Chris Stewart has contributed five points (2G, 3A), and Johnny Boychuk has four (1G, 3A). Mike Wall and Jason Bacashihua have accounted for the two Monsters wins in goal.

Goaltender Mike Wall has won five of his last six starts between the pipes. In that time he has recorded a .906 save percentage. Overall this season, Wall is 12-12-4 with a .915 save percentage and 2.92 GAA.

I'll be there tonight. GO Monsters!

i will probably go to this one, i'm trying to be optimistic about this game but i am thinking the worst. i want the monsters to win but manitoba is a very good team, not to say our team isnt good but just look at the season series, lets try and hunt down the moose and get some breathing room from grand rapids.
GO MONSTERS!

i would be shocked if they won either game. my wife and son both love the monsters, they're their second favorite team (behind the moose). i wish this game was televised as i have had a headache all day long.

It's a Tuesday and the weather sucks. I'm so glad there's a hockey game tonight. If we win, it'll be sweet. If we lose, I'll still be happy I got out of the house to see the game. Can't think of anything else I'd rather do.

Well that game could have been marketed as comedy. The Monsters aren't even in the same league as Manitoba, and it showed. Even in the fisticuffs.

words can't express.

that game got way out of hand, the first was by far their best (lake erie). no defense at all, i don't blame wall at all for that fiasco, he looked really sharp in the first but when the other team gets shots off like a shooting gallery sooner or later, the pucks are going to find the back of the net. lets just hope they march into grand rapids and tear the griffins a new ***hole.
i knew they werent going to win this one but would've like to see them keep it close.

quote:

Originally posted by tha hansons!:
that game got way out of hand, the first was by far their best (lake erie). no defense at all, i don't blame wall at all for that fiasco, he looked really sharp in the first but when the other team gets shots off like a shooting gallery sooner or later, the pucks are going to find the back of the net. lets just hope they march into grand rapids and tear the griffins a new ***hole.
i knew they werent going to win this one but would've like to see them keep it close.

What game were you watching? Certainly wasn't the Monsters. I agree that the defense was terrible, but from the first 2 goals, there wasn't a breakdown in the defense and 3 more he didn't even react. The one that he kicked in on his own in the 3rd ACTUALLY WASN'T HIS FAULT. I forget which defenseman was right there and should have cleared the puck for him. He couldn't find it, it was under him and leaked out behind him. The defense just left the puck sitting there. NOT HIS FAULT, The faceoff goal, DEFINITLY WASN'T HIS FAULT, but the first 2 goals and the 4th goal, Sorry, those were his problem. The slapshot he didn't react to.

His problem is he ISN'T BAD. He just has absolutely NO PUCK AWARENESS. He also has a very bad habit of deflecting the puck right to the other team. That isn't defense, that is something he has to work on. If he'd keep the puck in front of him, he'd do better. It's like he is afraid to make a 2nd point blank save.

I mean there were 3 goals that he gave up he shouldn't have. We scored 2 so we would have lost 3-2 instead of 7-2. Weims gave up 1 goal but that one was all the Moose Offense. That was a great play.

We have to live with Wall because SACCO S**T says he's better. I have accepted that, but I have also accepted that SACCO S**T isn't a good coach. He doesn't discipline and definitely doesn't condition those guys.

I have seen a big difference with Wyatt with the C on his chest, but 40 games into the season isn't the time to start conditioning. At least Wyatt is the Captain and I am so glad he is back...

HEY NED, YZERMAN GAME WARN was sitting on the glass last night in Section 124... You?

It seems like our team doesn't always fight for position. Manitoba will just stand in front of the goal and nobody pushes them out of there. I see our guys getting slammed into the glass constantly, but it's uncommon to see the other team get hit. Normally you'd hear the audience yell, "Yea!" when their team gets slammed against the boards, but it wasn't to be last night. It was more like watching our guys get their heads dragged over the glass.

They just appear to be a bit passive to me lately. Not everybody, but more than a few players just don't seem willing to put themselves into a physical position with another player, and would rather try and poke at them with their stick.

i was in 110 last night, two rows back. i almost got an errant puck.

i've been to nearly every game since thanksgiving and still have not caught a tshirt. isn't that some stuff? haha.

i really think the monsters were intimidated going into the game. manitoba hasn't lost in a long while and they were heavily favored to win. the monsters did not look like they were playing to win, but just playing not to lose. there's a big difference and it really showed. in the first period, they outshot the monsters 20:5. you can't win when you're outshot by that margin. it was amazing to see the game tied 1 all.

the game made the front of theahl.com.
http://theahl.com/news/league/index.html?article_id=8521

so kj you're saying that the shooting gallery manitoba put on, wall shoulda stopped em all. c'mon they outshot us all night, sacco should have pulled him when it was 3-1 or even 4-1. when the defense cant block pucks or even take up the shooting lanes you cant blame it all on the goalie, this is a team sport it isnt golf, there are 5 guys out there (unless they're killing off penalties) that have to produce. so next game lets just keep the goalie out there and keep the other guys on the bench and see how good the goalie does! i'm pretty sure the outcome will be VERY bad.
wall was sharp in the first besides the one he let in @ the end of the period, but when you put a barrage of shots on goal, some are gonna find the back of the net.
**** we couldnt even capatilize on the 3 on 1 we had so what does that tell you of the game and YES I WAS WATCHING THE GAME I WAS THERE.

I'm no hockey guru when it comes to strategy, but I think the team would be far more solid in a run and gun style, aggressive game. Obviously not gonna happen, since we play what Colorado plays, but when you look at the Chicago game for example, the Monsters faired well. The score got out of hand, but these guys matched the league's second best team and an offensive juggernaut at that. Same story with the Hershey games. Baseball scores, but really the Monsters played closer and better than in the typical 3-1 losses.

They have no defense, so why not go for it? Have the defensemen pinch in and take chances at maintaining the zone, rather than just dropping back and playing it safe like always (guess what, the standings say that isn't working!). Heck, look at Rochester implementing the cherrypick system with only four guys staying in the defensive zone, which worked on at least one goal in last week's game on a long breakout pass to an open man. The team is still pretty weak, but they've been winning more since going to it.

I for one would like to see an aggressive, attacking penalty kill - ala Grand Rapids - not this stand around waiting for the other team to shoot all over. And on the powerplay, all it is is passing..and passing..and passing..and passing.....SHOOT THE PUCK! Even Dave Oliver addressed it and said it's something Sacco has been stressing all year. Whatever. I think we need to turn it up a few notches. But since they're usually fatigued by the third period anyway, I guess that would only guarantee 20 minutes of hockey a night.

jillson gets too much ice time. he's not very good. considering he's the team's go-to guy for defense, and the defense sucks, how about throwing denisov or love on ice more often? purinton was barely on last night. colorado's defense isn't banged up and mangled, so i don't understand why we can't get a more cohesive defense.

i felt bad for wall last night. that first period he was the entire team's defense. tom fritsche blocked a slapshot with his chest again, but other than that, where's the defense?

HANSON BROS...
I know you were there. I said we'd still had lost. He didn't have help but it seems we let down after he gives up a couple of easy ones.

THAT WAS A TOTAL TEAM EFFORT LAST NIGHT. IT SUCKED...

Purinton is watched like a hawk, no sense even playing Dale anymore. I just hope I can get to the Last game on the 12th, it will be his last as a MONSTER and last as an AHL'er. He's going to LIGHT IT UP...

yes, he may have let some soft goals go in but he was losing his confidence, look @ the first period and all the stuff manitoba threw at him, he was solid besides the one he let in @ the end of the period, after that manitoba turned up the heat and we went cold. we need some solid blue liners that are going to back up their goalie, take some risks, to sacrifice the body to try and block a shot and we do need to get more aggressive on the penalty kill, we did good to get out of that 5 on 3 without any damage and we shoulda built off of that but we didnt.
so i wont blame wall for last night solely, the whole team lost that game and the fighting was horrendous it was supposed to lift the monsters spirits but even that didnt help.
this team needs to wake up and start playing some aggressive hockey, they keep say hard hitting hockey is back in cleveland, i certainly dont see it so...

They all played like **** last night. The fowards are also to blame for last night but this team needs major help on the back-end going into next year. One other thing, why doesn't coach Sly tell these defenseman to pinch once and a while. They just sit and wait and next thing you know its off to the races through the neutral zone and back down our throats.

Lets forget about last night, hopefully theren't aren't any more games like that this year.

Kelleys Island & Hansons...

AMEN BRUTHA...

last night was the first monsters game where i was actually bored. that's sad.

quote:

Originally posted by KIMonsterfan:
They all played like **** last night. The fowards are also to blame for last night but this team needs major help on the back-end going into next year. One other thing, why doesn't coach Sly tell these defenseman to pinch once and a while. They just sit and wait and next thing you know its off to the races through the neutral zone and back down our throats.

Lets forget about last night, hopefully theren't aren't any more games like that this year.

**** Monsters what were you trying to do tonight, top last nights performace...

I think we're looking at a case of hoping the season ends ASAP. Lately the Monsters aren't taking steps back, it's more like leaps. 7-2 and 6-1? Are you serious? And with Toronto, Syracuse, and Toronto again this weekend.

i actually think this team is worse than rochester. rochester has it worse cuz the're the last team with a dual affiliation and i think next season there going to have another team come in to take one of the affiliations and maybe rochester will be better, so if we dont get our **** straight, we might be the ones looking up @ everyone else next season.
especially with those baseball scores that the monsters are letting teams put up.