:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45831014/usa-today-8123450.0.jpg)
The beloved Monsters had a chance to try out a couple of their new players on Wednesday with fairly negative results and a 3-0 loss to Milwaukee. The Chicago Wolves stop by the Q for games tonight and Sunday afternoon.
News
- Tonight is Pink the Rink Night at Quicken Loans Arena. The Monsters will be sporting Pink Jerseys to support breast cancer awareness.
- MHH's own cathyannhenry was at Tip-a-Monster on Monday evening and put up a FanPost with all the deets and some pix. Check it out.
- Joey Leach was sent back to Fort Wayne yesterday still leaving up with 8 defensemen.
- Mitch Heard was listed as out with LBI for Wednesday's game with Smitty and Max still out of course
Recap - Milwaukee
Not much to take away from Wednesday's game, the roulette wheel on defense made any kind of consistency impossible. For the millionth time i wish we had some shot stats, only 16 SOG but there were tons more that didn’t make it on net including the usual couple of misses at wide open goals. Aggz had 4 shots on net, Elliott 2 and no one else had more than 1. I expected a little more of a shakeup in the lines with the personnel changes, that will probably happen for the weekend. Petryk and Schumi worked well with Hish, but Hamilton plays a different game and those two aren’t a good fit for him, something tending towards skill rather than grit, like Bourke & Ryan would be better.
Mat Clark looked decent but wasn’t totally up to speed on the Monsters defensive system. I think he also needs to get to know which forwards/d-partners are going to blow coverages all the time so he can expect the unexpected better. He made a few passes where most guys would have just chipped the puck, which is encouraging.
Beaupre was horrible, not expecting him to dress on Friday. Lauridsen is now the most experienced LHD but asking him to take top-pair minutes hasn’t worked well all year and it didn’t last night either. Bruno sucked as usual. The rest of the D were inconsistent, Elliott and Siemens looked better as the game wore on and they had a few shifts together. They were the only pair that had any chemistry at the end. Hopefully we’ll see Ben Youds on Friday and find out whether or not he can bring anything.
Preview - Chicago
The Monsters have played the Wolves quite well this year winning 3 out of 5 so far with the 2 losses coming early in the year in Roman Will's early days as a professional goalie. Chicago sits in 9th place in the WC, 6 points ahead of LEM. The Monsters slim playoff hopes ride on accumulating around 30 points in the last 21 games, which won't happen, but getting the team playing like it can is more important than worrying about that. Hoping to see some new lines and pairs and better focus overall.
We're going with the usual "DeanWatch" to see if he can keep his job once again. Given Coach Roy's thoughts on the talent level in Lake Erie, I don't know how much blame they're placing on the staff there and if he made it through last season's collapse I don't know how this is any worse. Fans aren't happy with him for sure.
Lines from the MKE game:
Aggz/Street/Vinny
Schumi/Freddie/Petryk
Bourke/Big Sam/Ryan
Cheek/Mags
Lauridsen, Clark, Elliott, Beaupre, Siemens, Gervais and Corbett all played in seemingly random pairings all night.
I think the lines will be shaken up and a good possibility we see Ben Youds make his Monsters debut.
Schedule
Friday night vs Chicago 7:30pm in the ET, radio on WKNR
Sunday afternoon vs Chicago 3:00pm in the ET, radio on 99x
Links
Next up
The usual grueling Texas road trip starts Wednesday in Austin against the Stars
* * * * *
No Avs game tonight and Sunday's game should be over right before they take on the WIlds so stop by and support your Monsters. I'll have all the updates and recaps here and on twitter. Enjoy!