Eurolanche

Monsters Finish Off a Hat Trick of Games

Monster had three games in three days this weekend. This was the beginning of a seven game road swing for them. They did very well on their three cities in three nights. Lake Erie posted two wins and one loss on the weekend, which included some outstanding performances by some players.

Monster started with a comeback win on Thursday night against the Peoria Rivermen. Starting the third period the Monsters were down 3-1. Cameron Gaunce and Andrew Agozzino scored the goals to get the game tied up. The game then went to OT with neither side able to capitalize the game went to shootout. Sami Aittokallio was solid stopping 25 shots to get the game to the shootout. Then Aittokallio turned his game up more by stopping three of four Peoria shooters in the shootout to help Lake Erie get the win. Newly named Captain Bryan Lerg made his presence felt by scoring the opening goal of the game and notching one in the shootout. The Monsters walked away with a 4-3 win in the first night.

In the second of three games monsters come away with another win this time 2-1 over the Admirals. Calvin Pickard stole the show in this game. Pickard made a whopping 42 saves that night for the win. While the Admirals did strike first on a power play goal. It was all Monster goals after that as Pickard effectively shut the door for the night. Bryan Lerg scored first for the Monsters. The new captain at this point has 6 goals in 6 straight games. Luke Walker then put the Monsters up by one with a shorthanded goal. After that is was all Pickard holding the line to get the Lake Erie win.

The third game in three nights didn’t go as well for the Monsters. Falling by a final score of 6-3 to the Rockford IceHogs, the Monsters had an early lead in the game. Going up 3-1 by the end of the first period the Monsters just couldn’t find the net again after that. The Monster goals were scored by Agozzino, Thomas and Barrie. Another busy night for Pickard in the Monsters net, making 27 saves in the lost for Lake Erie.

There were a lot of big performances for Lake Erie players over this trip. Multi point games from Brad Malone and Tyson Barrie. Back to back goals in games by new captain Bryan Lerg. After all that the star performance of the weekend has to go to goaltender Calvin Pickard. Pickard made 69 saves on 76 shots in his two games. Posting a 0.908 save percentage on the weekend Pickard is making his presence felt and securing his number one spot on the team.