AHL Cleveland Monsters

Monsters lose to Chops

December 6, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Monsters News Release


In the 100th game of their franchise's history, the Lake Erie Monsters lost to the Iowa Chops, 2-1, in overtime Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

The game was highlighted by another solid performance from Monsters goaltender Tyler Weiman, who made 36 saves on 38 shots.

"Tyler was great again," said Monsters center Marty Sertich. "The last few games he's played for us he's been great. They could have had more goals, but he played really well."

Weiman and the Monsters defense started the game out well. The team killed off a two man advantage early on and Weiman stopped 14 shots in the opening frame.

However, the Chops opened the scoring, finding the back of the net at 12:01 of the first period. While shorthanded, Iowa's Brendan Mikkelson floated a pass that touched down right on the stick of Andrew Ebbett, who was sprinting down the middle of the ice. The Chops forward was all alone on Weiman and beat the Monsters goalie to give the Chops a 1-0 lead.

The lead would last for about a period before Sertich cashed in on the power play at 11:42 of the second. From the point, defenseman Ray Macias fired a slap shot that Sertich deflected past the glove of Chops goalie David LeNeveu. Chris Durno earned the second assist on the goal.

The game would remain tied for the rest of regulation as both goaltenders turned in solid performances to keep their teams in the game. Weiman made 16 saves in the third period and LeNeveu turned aside 13 shots in the last frame of regulation.

But the game would end at 2:52 of overtime, when Chops forward Drew Miller beat Weiman to end the game.

"We hadn't played in a week and we came back rusty, but Tyler kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win," said head coach Joe Sacco.

Lake Erie won't have too much time to dwell on the loss. The team will turn around in less than 24 hours and host Iowa again at The Q Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

"That's a very good hockey team we played tonight," said Sacco. "We need to come out strong tomorrow and let Iowa know we're ready to play."

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