CLEVELAND – By virtue of a 2-1 double overtime victory vs. the defending Calder Cup Champions, the Ontario Reign, on Thursday in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals, Cleveland’s Lake Erie Monsters swept the series and earned a berth in the Calder Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history.

The Monsters grabbed a 1-0 lead at 6:26 of the opening period when Lukas Sedlak potted his seventh marker of the postseason at even-strength, thanks to an end-wall feed from Kerby Rychel and Sonny Milano. After a scoreless middle frame, the Reign tied the game at one on an unassisted five-on-five tally by Joel Lowry at 2:44 that ultimately forced overtime.

After a hard-fought first OT frame, the Monsters turned again to Sedlak at 6:25 of double overtime and, after a perseverant play by Josh Anderson and Rychel, buried a rebound score to claim Game 4, to win the Western Conference and to hoist Lake Erie into the Calder Cup Finals for the first time in the franchise’s nine-year history.

Anton Forsberg improved to 5-0 in the playoffs in net for the Monsters by virtue of a 41-save performance, while Peter Budaj made 29 saves between the pipes for Ontario in defeat.

Next up for the Monsters, it’s the best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals vs. the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, currently led by the Hershey Bears, three games to none over the Toronto Marlies. The Monsters are the first Cleveland team to appear in the Calder Cup Finals since the 1965-66 Cleveland Barons. Cleveland hasn’t claimed the Calder Cup since 1964, when the Barons won their then-record ninth AHL title. This will be Cleveland’s 15th appearance in the Calder Cup Finals.

The Monsters are in the finals...I hope they win (they'll probably play against the Hershey Bears).

Good luck. I used to live in a Calder Cup winning city.

Sadly, it will be the Hershey Bears in the finals. They defeated the Toronto Marlies in 5 games last week. The Marlies were the top team in the AHL this past season despite several injuries to key players and a great number of callups to their parent team the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Marlies still made a great run in the playoffs and served notice that they will be heard from in the future. I thought they did a great job!

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I'm afraid the Cavs will lose the finals...and I'm not sure how the Monsters did against the Bears...

I'm afraid the Cavs will lose the finals...and I'm not sure how the Monsters did against the Bears...



I'm actually hoping they will win. I didn't watch the NBA playoffs but I did see LeBron James get interviewed right after the end of Game 7 and I was very impressed with how he handled himself with such class (unlike 80% of his fellow players). He had such great things to say about the Raptors, their fans, and the city of Toronto that he even made a fan out of me. I wish him and the Cavs the best of luck in the Finals and I hope he finally gets you that championship you've always wanted.


LeBron James interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I686wavE0_U)

I'll be listening to the Cavs/Warriors game tonight.

PS-The Monsters are leading 1-0.

Three to go...

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It may not be the NHL, but looks like we'll take anything now!

PS-This hockey game was sold out! And it had the most turn-out in Ohio Hockey History...more so than any Columbus Blue Jackets Game!