American Hockey League Wiki
Lake Erie Monsters
City: Cleveland, Ohio
League: American Hockey League
Conference: Western Conference
Division: North Division
Founded: 2007
Home Arena: Quicken Loans Arena
Colors: Wine, black, white, blue, yellow
                        
Owner(s): Dan Gilbert
General Manager: David Oliver
Head Coach: Dean Chynoweth
Media: WKNR
Affiliates: Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
Denver Cutthroats (ECHL)
Franchise history
1994–1995: Denver Grizzlies
1995–2005: Utah Grizzlies
2007–present: Lake Erie Monsters

The Lake Erie Monsters are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They began play in the 2007–08 AHL season at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The team is an affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.

Official Lake Erie Monsters Website:http://www.lakeeriemonsters.com/


History[]

The Lake Erie Monsters began with the revival of the dormant Utah Grizzlies franchise purchased by an Cleveland ownership group led by Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team and Quicken Loans on May 16, 2006. The team was relocated to Cleveland to replace the former Cleveland American Hockey League tenant, the Cleveland Barons, who had moved to Massachusetts to compete as the Worcester Sharks following the 2005–06 season. With the Quicken Loans Arena established as the team's home venue the Colorado Avalanche were announced as the franchise's primary NHL affiliate with a five-year agreement on December 17, 2006.

On January 25, 2007, the franchise was announced by Dan Gilbert as the Lake Erie Monsters, referring to Bessie, a creature of local folklore. The name was chosen from researching focus groups around the Cleveland area and the logo incorporated the Geographical connection in the Region with Lake Erie. With the team colors of Wine, Black, White, Yellow and Blue, the Monsters secondary logo was chosen instead to feature on the front jerseys. Former NHL player, Joe Sacco who had been coaching within the Avalanche's affiliate organizations for the past three-years, was named as the Monsters first head coach and was joined by former Avalanche and NHL defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre as an assistant on May 7, 2007. With Lake Erie placed to compete in the North Division of the American Hockey League. The Monsters opened their inaugural 2007–08 campaign at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins on October 6, 2007.

On November 11, 2010, it was announced that the Avalanche and Monsters agreed on a multi-year extension to their current agreement. The terms of this extension were not disclosed as per NHL/AHL policy. At the end of the 2010–11 season the Monsters made it into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. After gaining a 3-1 game lead over the Manitoba Moose they lost in game 7 4-1 and lost the round 3-4.

This market was previously served by:

(*) - same team

Season-by-Season Results[]

Regular Reason[]

Season Games Won Lost OTL SOL Points Goals
For
Goals
Against
Standing
2007–08 80 26 41 6 7 65 209 276 6th, North
2008–09 80 34 38 3 5 76 199 218 6th, North
2009–10 80 34 37 1 8 77 234 257 6th, North
2010–11 80 44 28 3 5 96 223 206 2nd, North
2011–12 76 37 29 3 7 84 189 210 3rd, North

Playoffs[]

Season 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Finals Avg. Attendance
2007–08 Did Not Make AHL Playoffs
2008–09 Did Not Make AHL Playoffs
2009–10 Did Not Make AHL Playoffs
2010–11 L, 3-4, Manitoba 8,069
2011–12 Did Not Make AHL Playoffs