Monsters vs Crunch Live Updates : Going For Two
Photo Credit : Cleveland Monsters
Last night, the Cleveland Monsters topped the Syracuse Crunch, 5-4, in a loud and angsty game that ended in overtime. Tonight, Cleveland is looking to sweep the weekend series against Syracuse.
Heading into Saturday’s game the Monsters lead the North Division with a record of 15-6-0-1. At the same time, the Crunch are sixth in the division with a record of 8-7-3-3.
Officials
Referees: Morgan MacPhee (43), David Elford (56)
Linespeople: Jeremy Faucher (85), Luke Stork (4)
Cleveland Lineup
Forwards
James Malatesta - Luca Del Bel Belluz - Trey Fix-Wolansky
Rocco Grimaldi - Owen Sillinger - Gavin Brindley
Roman Ahcan - Joseph LaBate - Justin Pearson
Jake Gaudet - Hunter McKown - Max McCue
Defenders
Denton Mateychuk - Madison Bowey
Daemon Hunt - Corson Ceulemans
Stanislav Svozil - Cole Clayton
Goalies
Jet Greaves - Zach Sawchenko
Syracuse Lineup
Forwards
Kale Kessy - Daniel Walcott - Lucas Edmonds
Max Groshev - Jaydon Dureau - Jesse Ylonen
Joel Teasdale - Tristan Allard - Conor Sheary
Dylan Duke - Gabriel Szturc - Niko Huuhtanen
Defenders
Derrick Pouliot - Dyllan Gill
Chris Harpur - Steven Santini
Declan Carlile - Scott Walford
Goalies
Brandon Halverson - Matt Tomkins
Start of the 1st Period - Monsters 0, Crunch 0
1st Period, 6:00 - Shots Per Minute
The Monsters played at a shot-per-minute average during the first six minutes of the game. Syracuse goaltender Brandon Halverson was put to work at the beginning of the period, but managed to stand tall and shut down Cleveland.
End of the 1st Period - Monsters 0, Crunch 0
The first period ended with the Monsters and Crunch tied at zero. Despite both teams rolling with a 12-6 lineup tonight instead of an 11-7, Cleveland and Syracuse’s defense had a strong showing to start the game. After the first six minutes of the game, the Crunch only allowed the Monsters to fire off two high-danger shots. Cleveland’s defense held Syracuse to three shots by clogging lanes and forcing the Crunch to play along the perimeter instead of in the slot or crease.
Special teams looked evenly matched as both teams went 0 for 1 on the power play. Cleveland’s power play couldn’t get their wheels going. On the other side of the ice, Syracuse’s power play was forced to play much of their man advantage along the boards and at the blue line. '
Start of the 2nd Period - Monsters 0, Crunch 0
GOAL - 2nd Period, 00:34 - Monsters 1, Crunch 0
Luca Del Bel Belluz kicked the scoring off for Cleveland 34 seconds into the middle stanza. Trey Fix-Wolansky passed the puck between his legs from the boards behind Halverson to Del Bel Belluz who was sitting on the doorstep. Once the pass hit his stick, Del Bel Belluz squeaked it past Halverson’s skate for the goal.
Del Bel Belluz has six points in the past four games.
GOAL - 2nd Period, 16:19 - Monsters 1, Crunch 1
Niko Huuhtanen launched a shot from below the blueline that bounced off of Dylan Duke’s stick and over Greaves’ left pad. There was nothing the Monsters defense or Greaves could do to stop the puck. It was just an unlucky bounce.
GOAL - 2nd Period, 17:56 - Monsters 2, Crunch 1
Joseph LaBate extended the Monsters; lead over the Crunch to 2-1 with 2:04 to play in the second period. Duke passed the puck to Halverson to, I assume, have the netminder play it. However, LaBate was lurking nearby and swept in before slamming the puck through Halverson’s five-hole.
End of the 2nd Period - Monsters 2, Crunch 1
Yet again, Cleveland’s penalty kill looked strong. During their only kill of the second, they cleared the puck four times and kept Syracuse’s power play on their toes.
The Monsters were held to four shots during the second which means they had a 50% success rate.
Max McCue and Tristan Allard dropped their gloves and gave the fans what they’ve been waiting for all weekend, a fight. Things heated up fast and the officials had to put a stop to it before someone got hurt.
Start of the 3rd Period - Monsters 2, Crunch 1
GOAL - 3rd Period, 3:10 - Monsters 2, Crunch 2
Duke’s shot bounced off the board behind Greaves and onto Gabriel Szturc. Greaves thought he closed up the net on the left side, but there was a tiny space that Szturc squeezed the puck through for the goal.
GOAL - 3rd Period, 8:36 - Monster 2, Crunch 3
Greaves left the crease to go toe-to-toe with multiple members of the Crunch as they barreled towards the net. He made multiple kick saves, leaving him off balance and forcing Denton Mateychuk to hop into the crease to try and salvage the play. Unfortunately, Conor Sheary was able to find the back of the net and give Syracuse the 3-2 lead.
Leading up to this goal, the third period was rough for Greaves. I don’t mean his play either. Cleveland’s defense let the Crunch sit on the crease and in the slot. Greaves can only do so much without the help of the defense.
GOAL - 3rd Period, 15:23 - Monsters 3, Crunch 3
Del Bel Belluz scored his second of the night after redirecting Fix-Wolansky’s rocket of a shot into the net. At the time Fix-Wolansky released the puck, Del Bel Belluz was sitting in the middle of the slot screening Halverson.
After this goal, Fix-Wolansky and Del Bel Belluz are tied for second in the league with 25 points.
End of 3rd Period - Monsters 3, Crunch 3
Cleveland started overtime with a 3:30 power play.
End of Overtime - Monsters 3, Crunch 3
Despite spending most of overtime on the power play, the Monsters couldn’t get a single puck past Halverson. They had six registered shots on net and at least four shot attempts during extra time. Halverson refused to be the reason why the game ended and carried Syracuse into a shootout.
Shootout
A win in a shootout is normally decided in three rounds. As you know, the Monsters rarely do things the easy or normal way. So, tonight’s shootout went six rounds.
Fix-Wolansky was the first shooter and only goal scorer for Cleveland.
Jesse Ylonen and Sheary gave Syracuse the 4-3 win.
Syracuse tested Greaves’ skills with a few nifty moves. Unfortunately, Cleveland didn’t bring that same energy to their chances. Most of their shots were softies that Halverson was able to slam his five-hole shut on them.
Final - Monsters 3, Crunch 4
Three Stars
1st - Cleveland - Luca Del Bel Belluz - 2 goals
2nd - Syracuse - Conor Sheary - 1 goal, 1 assist
3rd - Cleveland - Trey Fix-Wolansky - 2 assists
Post Game Press Conference
Hear from Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber and Luca Del Bel Belluz on tonight’s 4-3 Shootout loss to the Syracuse Crunch.
Unsung Hero
Tonight’s honor goes to defenseman Denton Mateychuk for consistently acting as an extension of Jet Greaves.
