The Cleveland Monsters enter the depths of the postseason while facing off with the Toronto Marlies in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
Toronto
Joesph Blandisi — shorthanded goals leader with 3 SHG. Logan Shaw Matthew Barbolini Marko Sikic Sam Stevens Ryan Kirwan Nick Abruzzese Roni Hirvonen Kyle Clifford Alex Steeves — 8th in regular season scoring with 36 goals and 26 assists; 62 points in 59 games. 36 was second in league goal scoring, only behind Matej Blumel of Texas. Brandon Baddock — penalty minutes leader with 97PIMs. Cedric Pare Jacob Quillan Luke Haymes Braeden Kressler Reese Johnson Zach Solow Ryan Tverberg Borya Valis Alex Nylander - was with Columbus last season after Emil Bemstrom trade; team worst -12. Robert Masteosimmone
Tommy Miller John Prokop Topi Niemela Cade Webber Nicolas Mattinen Matt Benning William Villeneuve — assist leader for Marlies with 36 in 55 games; also led in plus +17. Chas Sharpe Marshall Rifai Mikko Kokkonen
Matt Murray — best GAA @ 1.55GAA and save percentage at 0.934. Dennis Hildeby — wins leader with 17 Vyacheslav Peksa Ryan Hardy General Manager John Gruden Head Coach Michael Dyck Assistant Coach Steve Sullivan Assistant Coach Hannu Toivonen Goaltending Coach Troy Paquette Video Coach
Cleveland Monsters
Luca Del Bel Belluz — leading goal scorer on club with 27 in season; plus leader with +6. James Malatesta Owen Sillinger Joseph LaBate Jr. Curtis Hall Dylan Gambrell Justin Pearson Stefan Matteau — Captain Ryland Mosley Roman Achan — SHG leader with 3. Hunter McKown Cameron Butler Gavin Brindley Luca Pinelli Trey Fix-Wolansky — leading team scorer; 13th best in league with 60 points; tied for lead in PPG with LDBB at 8. Mikael Pyyhita Jordan Dumais Rocco Grimaldi — leading assist producer; 18th in league scoring with 58 points. Max McCue — team leader in penalty minutes at 122 and worst minus at -11.
Will MacKinnon Corson Ceulemans Stanislav Svozil Madison Bowey Drew Bavro Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm Denton Mateychuk — team PPG leader at 0.93; AHL All Star. Samuel Knazko Daemon Hunt Guillaume Richard Cole Clayton — IOA man of the year
Pavel Cajan Evan Gardner Zach Sawchenko Jet Greaves
Chris Clark General Manager Trent Vogelhuber Head Coach Chris Bergeron Associate Coach Mark Letestu Assistant Coach Brad Thiessen Goaltending Coach Mike Monti Video Coach
The Cleveland Monsters come into this series as the ninth seed in the Conference and fifth and lowest team in the division. They also get reinforcements back with Denton Mateychuk and Jet Greaves in the fold.
Ways the Marlies win the series 1. Playoff Form Murray — the two time cup winner will be around and will mentor Hildeby 2. Defensive Depth — GM Treliving and AGM Hardy have built a defensive system through veteran presence and patience. 3. Strong Steeves — the leading scorer of the club will be the X factor.
Ways the Monsters win the series 1. Trey Fix-Wolansky — the X factor will have to pull through 2. Main Man Mateychuk — after spending the back half the year with Columbus, Mateychuk returns to the minors to win a Calder Cup. 3. First Star Greaves — after being first star at the end of the regular season, he needs to ride the jet momentum to cruise to the second round.
Schedule
Game 1 — Thursday April 24 in Cleveland
Game 2 — Saturday April 26 in Toronto
Game 3 — Sunday April 27 in Toronto
Predictions
Cleveland Monsters in 3.