Monsters leaning on best promotion of all -- winning hockey
Nov. 23—The Monsters' creative front office does a wonderful job coming up with different promotions to attract fans to games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The team has come up with the greatest promotion of all — winning hockey.
Emil Bemstrom scored at 13:04 of the third period on a feed from Kent Johnson on Nov. 20 in Charlotte, N.C., and then later added an empty net goal in a 3-1 road win over the Checkers.
The victory vaulted the Monsters, 9-4-1-0, into first place in the AHL North Division with 19 points. The race is very tight. Rochester, Toronto and Syracuse are right behind with 18 points. All four teams have played 14 games.
"We have a deeper roster at the moment than we've had in seasons past," Coach Trent Vogelhuber said Nov. 19 after the Monsters lost a track meet to the Rochester Americans, 7-5. "We've got a really good group. With a deeper roster comes competition from within. That pushes guys sometimes harder than a coach can."
The promotions the Monsters offer are still a drawing card. The Monsters host the Toronto Marlies at 7 p.m. on Nov. 24 — one night after Thanksgiving. The game is being billed as "Black Friday." The Monsters will be wearing their black jerseys with the new Monsters logo. Fans are encouraged to wear black clothing. The first 5,000 fans will receive a glow-in-the-dark rally towel. A crowd of 12,000 or more is expected.
Unless the parent club Blue Jackets of the NHL recall one or both of them, Bemstrom and Johnson will be wearing those black jerseys and playing for the Monsters on Nov. 24. Bemstrom was recently loaned to the Monsters by the Blue Jackets when the Jackets recalled Trey Fix-Wolansky. Johnson, the fifth overall pick of the 2021 draft, was demoted to Cleveland earlier this month to improve his game at both ends of the ice.
Both Bemstrom and Johnson are working hard with the Monsters. Their goal is to be recalled by the Blue Jackets. In the meantime, they are making the Monsters better and by example teaching the players that were in Cleveland when they arrived. Because as much as fans enjoy watching the Monsters win, as Vogelhuber often remarks, the AHL is a developmental league.
"We're attempting to be more detailed in areas of the game, which I think we're seeing most nights," Vogelhuber said. "And we do have a good thing. Guys come out most nights expecting to win, which is a good feeling going into the game."
Goaltending has been strong. Jet Greaves is the Monsters' primary goalie. Pavel Cajen was in net Nov. 20 when the Monsters beat Charlotte.
"It's been a good start for myself and the group," Greaves said on the Monsters' website before the Nov. 20 game with Charlotte. "This part of the year, it's about establishing the kind of game we want to get to and it's the same for myself personally. I think now it's about building that consistency as we move forward through the year."
The Monsters play the Marlies in Toronto on Nov. 26 and then return to the FieldHouse for home games with Utica on Dec. 2 and 3.
