January 25 th , 2007, the Lake Erie Monsters were born. The 26 th , on home ice, the Monsters celebrated with some decked out looking cakes they shared with fans. So far this year, 123,208 fans have graced Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland , Ohio ; Ninth most in the AHL. Not bad for an inaugural season. Saturday's crowd appeared to be one of the largest of the season.

This was the second meeting in two days between the Rochester Americans and the Lake Erie Monsters. Lake Erie took the first match in a shootout on Rochester 's ice, and hoped to repeat the feat in Cleveland . David Jones and T.J. Hensick were both back in Monster uniforms after a brief stint to the parent club, the Colorado Avalanche. Rochester chased Lake Erie in the standings by a six-point spread. The Monsters currently sitting in the sixth spot of the Western Conference North Division, hoped to gain on number five Grand Rapids . The Hamilton Bulldogs, currently in the fourth spot of the North, had made a big bold move to that spot after sitting in sixth roughly two weeks ago. It demonstrated how easy it would be for a team to move up into playoff contention just by stringing together three or four victories. The Monsters, playing six of their next seven at home, were hoping for such a run. They were 3-0-2 in the last five games. On this day, they added to their recent successes, scoring a season high seven goals and beating the Americans 7-2. Jeff Freisen, a big part of the success, was on his last day of a temporary contract as the parent club, the Colorado Avalanche, gave him a good look to return to the NHL. This was the last game before the All Star break. Mark Mancari will represent the Americans in the All Star Game on Monday, T.J.Hensick will represent the Monsters.

The Monsters gave up the first power play, and consequently, the first goal of the game. It took less than a minute for Rochester 's by David Brine and assisted by Marek Zagrapan and Anthony Stewart. Not even twenty seconds later, Rochester was back on the power play. Dale Puriton was sent off for elbowing. The Americans wasted no time as Lojek rang the post and almost opening up a two goal lead. They were all over Lake Erie . You would have thought it was a five-on-two. Mike Wall was in net for the Monsters and had his work cut out for himself during both power plays so far. The Monsters did kill the penalty with no further damage. Rochesters' Patrick Kaleta instigated Mitch Love into taking a retaliatory roughing call, and Rochester went on the power play yet again. Lake Erie 's penalty kill finally found some teeth, and they started hitting heavy and often, finally disrupting the Americans one-man advantage. Wyatt Smith played keep away all by himself and expired the penalty. Mitch Love came out of the box intent on a little revenge, and a bit of a scrum started up. No penalties were called, but there was no question Mitch Love would be involved in an altercation at some point during this contest. After one, Lake Erie was lucky they only trailed by one. The period was completely dominated by Rochester . Shots on goal looked just like you'd expect with a 9-2 advantage going to the Americans.

It was a wild second period as the Monsters proved it is not the quantity of shots as much as it is quality. Their first shot of the period, and their third shot on goal all night, went in off the stick of Chris Stewart, assists by Puriton and Richardson. Their next shot, less than four minutes later, also found the back of the net, scored by T.J.Hensick, assisted by David Jones and Lundmark. Believe it or not, their THIRD shot in the period was also a goal, this one on a break away by T.J.Hensick, who left for J.D. Corbin and he poked it into the top of the net for a 3-1 lead. All this only five plus minutes into the second period!!

The crowd was really rocking at this point, with Crazy Carl, trumpet player extraordinaire, adding fuel to the party. Three minutes later, the Americans bit back. Lake Erie had a bad turnover in their own end, and Dylan Hunter scored off the glove of Mike Wall with an assist to Mark Mancari. Lake Erie would have none of that, with 8:42 Phillippe Dupuis made a great move on goal, sliding through a crease on the left side of the net, tipping it home. Dupuis had his second goal as a Lake Erie Monster after being traded to them just four days prior, and it was a beauty. Goalie Adam Dennis for Rochester was pulled for his less than stellar second period performance. Lake Erie went on the power play with seven minutes left in the period, their first power play of the game. Tyler Plante, the Americans new goalie, would get tested quickly. The Monsters kept the puck in the zone, and MacDonald took a tripping penalty, giving the Monsters a 25 second five-on-three advantage.

So far Lake Erie hadn't tested Plante. Jamie Lundmark changed that with a wrister from twenty feet out. Plante gloved it handily, breaking his second period entry maiden. It did not seem to help though, as the Monsters Darcy Campbell wound up and hit the back of the net with a wicked slap shot through traffic. Campbell was the second of the two new players on the Monsters in the trade that sent Rycroft to Syracuse . Someone in the Monsters organization was feeling like a genius right about now. Dylan Hunter took another penalty for Rochester , allowing the Monsters to close out the second on the power play. They almost added another, as Friesen tried to poke one home right off the net, but whiffed, and Lake Erie went into the locker room up 5-2. The Monsters could not have asked for a better period of hockey.

Then again, opening up the third period with a short handed goal four minutes in probably was better, and was icing on the cake. Brad Richardson ran this one home. The Americans still had numbers for a minute-plus, but could not generate any offense whatsoever. The 6-2 lead looked like a safe bet for a win with fourteen minutes left. Puriton of the Monsters was called for boarding as things continued to heat up. You couldn't tell the Monsters were down a man during this particular penalty kill, as they controlled the puck most of the two minutes. The Americans just looked shell-shocked at this point. Globke went to the box for the Americans, and Stewart grabbed his second of the evening twenty seconds later. Assist by Jeff Freisen and Darcy Campbell. 7-2 made this look more like a low scoring football game than hockey. The Monsters kept the pressure on with rush after rush. Rochester was just ready to go home. The only real question left in this game was would it get chippy in the last few minutes. Kaletta was still instigating for Rochester and went to the box for elbowing. So far the Monsters kept their cool and hadn't retaliated.

Denisov for Lake Erie took a hit in the leg and went down, then got a puck to the head while he lay there hurt. Mitch Love took offense and a fight almost broke out yet again. Love and McHutcheon both went to the box for Lake Erie , and with 3:38 left in the game, the Americans got a five-on-three down 7-2. The five on three featured Campbell, Vernace and Corbing on defense for the Monsters, and they sent the puck down ice after one minute, a great kill by those three. The trio came back on the ice with thirty seconds left in the five-on-three and continued to stymie Rochester 's offense, not allowing a shot. Mitch Love came right out and went after Mancari as Mancari got him in the eye with a high stick. Love went off the ice, getting four minutes for roughing. He literally left, the ice, and the penalty was served by Campbell . Rochester 's Mancari got two . It was an appropriate end to the game. Monsters won 7-2. They scored the most goals they've registered all season.

Third star of the game - Darcy Campbell

Second star of the game - T.J. Hensick

First star of the game - Chris Stewart