Ben Walter had two goals and one assist as the Monsters defeated Hamilton during rare morning "school day" promotion.
View full sizeLake Erie's Luke Walker (right) appears to the have the upper hand on Hamilton's Olivier Fortier in this second-period fight during Wednesday morning's game at The Q. Walker also had a goal in the Monsters' 5-1 victory.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- At a "school day" game Wednesday, the Monsters taught the Hamilton Bulldogs a hard lesson in the value of a forecheck.
The Monsters used speed and muscle to disrupt Bulldogs possessions repeatedly, paving the way for a 5-1 victory at The Q.
"The forecheck really gave us a chance tonight," Monsters coach David Quinn said. "Every team has its identity, and our forecheck is something we pride ourselves in. If we're going to have success as a team, we need to have success on the forecheck."
Quinn used "tonight" several times in his postgame remarks. He and his club are programmed for night-time faceoffs on weekdays, but this one happened at 10:54 a.m. as part of the school-day promotion -- one of two the franchise will host this season.
The majority of the 3,394 in attendance was young students from the area.
"Even though we practice every day at 11, it's obviously a lot different when you're playing a game," Quinn said. "Our guys responded, so maybe we should play more 10:45 games."
Perhaps sleep-deprived, players from both teams brought an edge to the ice. Three fights drew penalties as part of 19 total infractions for 56 minutes.
Center Ben Walter had one goal and two assists for Lake Erie, which rebounded nicely from a weekend that had left a sour taste. Last Friday, the Monsters lost to Chicago, 6-5, in overtime. On Sunday, they lost to Grand Rapids, 4-3, in a shootout.
View full sizeHamilton's Aaron Palushaj goes heels over head in a tumble over the goal while Lake Erie's Jason Bacashihua seems undisturbed in the second period Wednesday."We were coming off a couple of games we probably should have won, so we wanted to prove to ourselves we can be a good team," Walter said. "We need to show we know how to win."
The Monsters improved to 6-5-1-2 by kicking aside an opponent that had been on a roll. Hamilton (7-2-1-2) lost for the first time in six games.
"They give you a great challenge because they play hard, they've got a lot of skill, and they're very thorough," Quinn said. "We matched their speed and quickness. An effort like that against a club like that should give us some confidence."
Hamilton opened the scoring at 5:56 of the second period. Less than 90 seconds later, Monsters defenseman Ray Macias beat goalie Robert Mayer.
Lake Erie took the lead for good at 10:45 of the second, right winger Greg Mauldin using several slick moves from the right edge of the crease.
The period ended with two Bulldogs in the penalty box. Lake Erie, which has struggled on the power play this season, capitalized. Walter scored at 43 seconds of the third, moments before the 5-on-3 would have ended.
"To me, that was the game," Quinn said. "We needed to take advantage there."
Right winger Luke Walker notched his first pro goal at 10:10 of the period. Walter's second of the game and fifth of the season came 31 seconds later.
Monsters goalie Jason Bacashihua made 27 saves. He benefited from relentless skaters who prevented Hamilton from getting into a rhythm and creating many legitimate chances.
"We're a fast team that likes to play physical," Walker said. "We want to get on their d-men quickly and make them feel uncomfortable. That way, we'll get turnovers and puck possession time in their zone and score goals off that."
The Monsters' fifth of an eight-game homestand is Friday night against Milwaukee.