By: Brett Crow, Staff Reporter
Hockey is back in Cleveland and it’s not the Crusaders, Barons, Falcons, or Lumberjacks. Since 2007, the Lake Erie Monsters have been delivering on the promise of hockey to Northeast Ohio and it’s residents. And on October 3rd, 2012, training camp starts up for their sixth season in Cleveland.
The Sports Fix had an opportunity to speak with radio play-by-play commentator Doug Plagens about the start of training camp for the Lake Erie Monsters this past weekend. The excitement was evident as Plagens first spoke on the training camp roster recently released.
“I think the most interesting thing to keep an eye on,” began Plagens, “is going to be the goaltending position. You’ve got four, first year professional goalies. You’ve got four rookie goalies fighting for two spots.”
Last year, the Monsters benefited heavily from having Cedrick Desjardins in between the pipes for them, but that time has come to an end as Desjardins signed earlier this year with the Montreal Canadiens, a team that has previously had his contract, but traded him away to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The other goalie who saw plenty of time for the Monsters was Trevor Cann, who failed to get himself a new contract at the end of the season.
“Calvin Pickard is the guy to keep an eye on,” said Plagens, “he was here previously. Last year, he saw action in two games for the Monsters very late in the season. One was a relief appearance, one was a start. In that start, he was the beneficiary of the Monsters setting their single game record for goals in a game.”
The others joining Pickard are Sami Aittokallio (a twenty year old from Finland), Kieran Millan (a twenty-three year old who attained high success at Boston University), and Kent Patterson (a twenty-three year old from University of Minnesota). Pickard, age twenty, saw some time in the Western Hockey League, but most recently saw time with the Monsters this past season.
On the topic of defense, Plagens enlightened the listeners: “You’re going to see a team that’s able to field six solid defensemen every night. There’s going to be a great battle back on the blue line. There is some good players fighting for spots here, guys who have promise at the NHL level: Tyson Barrie, Stefan Elliott...”
The young Tyson Barrie was a force to be reckoned with last season, as he accrued 32 points for the Monsters last season (5 goals, 27 assists). He was also the representative for the Lake Erie Monsters in the 2012 AHL All Star Game.
Stefan Elliott was a wild success not just for the Monsters last season, but also for the Colorado Avalanche. Upon being called up to the Avalanche, Elliott scored his first goal in his NHL debut, a goal that proved to be the game winning score and led a charge for the comeback victory by Colorado over the Edmonton Oilers.
“On the backend, Sean Sullivan and Thomas Pöck, couple of veteran defensemen. They’ve posted some nice assist totals in their careers. That really gives the Monsters that puck moving, veteran presence back there on the blue line that they may not have had for a huge portion of last season,” continued Plagens on the defense. “That’s something that can translate to wins directly.”
“Out of the new players, guys that people haven’t seen, I think people are going to like watching Geoff Walker up front,” said Plagens of the 6’3”, 215 pound right winger. “He’s a bigger guy, and he’s a guy who can put the puck in the net, gets into the dirty area of the ice, and isn’t afraid to throw his weight around.”
“Bill Thomas is a guy who can shoot the puck. He’s going to provide an offensive punch,” remarked Plagen of the twenty-nine year old veteran. Thomas posted a career high 52 points last season for the San Antonio Rampage last season, among playing in 65 games.
“I think going into this season, you’re going to see a hungry bunch,” spoke Plagens frankly. “These guys had a very good year last year. They were a win away from securing a playoff spot. That second half they were a dangerous team and had they snuck into the playoffs, they would have been a team no one wanted to run into.”
Heading into the All-Star game last season, the Monsters were 16-15-1-1. After the break, they posted a record of 21-14-2-6 for a season total of 37-29-3-7. Had they won their final game of the season on April 14th against Rochester, they would have made the playoffs.
“This season, the Monsters have a chance to have the whole thing together right out of the gate,” Plagens said reassuringly.
Doug Plagens is the radio voice for the Lake Erie Monsters and regularly joins The Sports Fix on air every Saturday night, from 9pm to midnight. You can follow Doug Plagens on Twitter at @DougPlagens
The Sports Fix is Cleveland’s choice for sports talk in Northeast Ohio, hosted by Jerry Mires. They can be found online at www.thesportsfix.net or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesportsfix
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