After going to overtime in back-to-back games against the Toronto Marlies, the Cleveland Monsters welcomed some rest.
The Monsters closed out their best-of-three first-round series with a double-overtime win at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. Had the series gone to a third game, it would have necessitated the Monsters playing Sunday afternoon as well. With the Laval Rocket up next, any extra time off is a bonus.
“You could see the energy from both teams going down,” Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber said after the series-clinching win.
Heading into the next round against the regular-season champion Rocket, Vogelhuber knows his team will be ready.
“It’s a great challenge, a great opportunity for us. Two really good environments for playoff hockey. I can’t wait.”
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have the task of trying to knock off the back-to-back defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears.
But the Phantoms will do so coming from a position of respect even inside of a heated in-state rivalry between long-time adversaries.
“I know one thing with Hershey,” Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere said this week. “They compete. They all play the same way. They all play to win. Especially at this time of the year, they make winning plays.
“That’s a team I look up to. I like the way he (Hershey head coach Todd Nelson) coaches his team and I’ve got a lot of respect for that coach and that team.”
Laperriere also pointed to Hershey’s well-established ability to play a patient, composed game and then jump on an opposing mistake. Managing the puck properly will be a key message to his players.
“Our players respect their players, too, just the way they play,” Laperriere continued, “and to beat them, we’re going to have to be disciplined and manage the puck like they will.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
