Monsters prepared for busy trip.
Technically, the Monsters' mega-trip began last Saturday in Syracuse, N.Y. But the Crunch game essentially was self-contained because the Monsters immediately returned home and practiced in Strongsville this week.
Now comes the real road work. The Monsters begin a stretch of six games in nine days Saturday night in Oklahoma City against the Barons. Here is a rough sketch of the Monster itinerary:
Friday -- Fly to Oklahoma City.
Saturday night -- Play the Barons.
Sunday morning -- Fly to San Antonio, Texas.
Sunday afternoon -- Play the Rampage.
Monday -- Fly to Oklahoma City.
Tuesday night -- Play the Barons.
Wednesday morning -- Fly to San Antonio.
Wednesday night -- Play the Rampage.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning -- Bus to Austin, Texas.
Friday night, Oct. 22 -- Play the Stars.
Saturday, Oct. 23 -- Bus to Houston.
Sunday afternoon, Oct. 24 -- Play the Aeros.
Monday morning, Oct. 25 -- Fly to Cleveland.
"We're going to find out a lot about this team in a short period of time," Monsters coach David Quinn said. "It's going to be tough -- especially the quick turnarounds against San Antonio -- but every team goes on long trips. These guys know the drill, and they're eager to get after it."
The Monsters put themselves in excellent position to face the challenge. In the season opener Oct. 8, they came from two goals down to beat Syracuse, 3-2, in front of 12,524 at The Q. The next night, they beat the host Crunch in a shootout, 2-1.
Lake Erie is one of four AHL teams with a 2-0 record.
"I can't say enough about our effort in the first two games," Quinn said. "I loved the stick-to-itiveness, if that's a word. We've talked about wanting to be relentless, fast and physical. That's our identity. When we're skating, we want to dictate the tempo and establish the pace. That's what happened, for the most part, in the first two games.
"We've only played one team, so it's tough to gauge how we stack up against the rest of the league. I'm not concerned about that, though. I like what I've got to go on so far."
Quinn wanted the Monsters to be fast and physical last season -- his first as a pro head coach. But for a variety of reasons, it did not happen with any degree of regularity. Quinn thinks this season will be different because his players bought in from day one of camp.
"I haven't questioned our pace or work ethic once," he said. "I haven't had to skate them once, condition them once, because our practices have been so fast-paced. The conditioning is within the practice, which is the way it should be."
Between the pipes: The Monsters are convinced they have one of the best goalie tandems in the league, veterans Jason Bacashihua and John Grahame. Bacashihua won the opener and Grahame won the second game.
"We didn't give up a ton of shots in either game, but we gave up some tough shots that each guy stopped," Monsters General Manager David Oliver said.
As of now, the goalies are Nos. 1 and 1A.
"They both knew the situation coming in, and I give them credit," Oliver said. "Their attitude has been great. This type of situation is going to bring out the best in both of them."
Numbers game: Based on the 30 rosters submitted to the AHL office before opening weekend, the average age of an AHL player to begin the 2010-2011 season was 24 years, 3 months. The rosters featured a total of 747 players.
Other nuggets provided by the AHL communications department include:
The youngest player in the league on opening night was Jeremy Morin, 19, a forward with the Rockford Ice Hogs. Morin, a second-round draft pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009, was acquired by the Chicago Blackhawks in an off-season trade. As of Oct. 8, there were 309 AHL players who were 22 years old and under; 495 players were under age 25.
The Abbotsford Heat (23 years, 0 months) is the youngest team in the league, featuring a 25-man roster that included nine rookies and four second-year pros.
AHL rosters were made up of 56.6 percent Canadians and 31.2 percent Americans. Swedes (3.5 percent) make up the largest contingent of European-born players.