The team that calls the Quicken Loans Arena home just brought home a championship for Cleveland.
That's right! The Lake Erie Monsters captured the AHL's Calder Cup title this past Saturday!
Wait...what's a Calder Cup? Who are the Lake Erie Monsters?
Ohhhhh...I forgot. Cleveland doesn't care about hockey. That's too bad, because this hockey team did what your Browns, Indians, and Cavaliers have been failing to do since 1964, coincidentally the same year that the Cleveland Barons took home the Calder Cup for the last time.
Yes, the Monsters play their hockey at the Q just like the Cavaliers do their basketball. I'm sure the Monsters' themed murals on the walls in the arena must be a little confusing to the average Cleveland sports fan. I bet the closest thing these fans think they have to a hockey team is the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets (not even a playoff team), but in reality, they actually have a team that is certifiably the best team in its league.
For those fans that 1) didn't know that the Monsters existed or 2) knew about the Monsters but didn't bother to follow them, I'll give you a short recap as to why you should've been following this historic season.
The Monsters defeated the Hershey Bears in a complete four-game sweep, completing said sweep with an overtime game-winner with less than 2 seconds remaining in the overtime period -- MOST exciting. The Monsters finished the Calder Cup Playoffs with an overall record of 15-2, dropping those pair of games in the second round while sweeping every other opponent they faced -- good enough for the BEST RECORD in Calder Cup Playoff history by a finals team. Game 4, the game that saw the Monsters hoist the Calder Cup, drew 19,665 fans to the Q -- the LARGEST attendance for a hockey game in the state of Ohio EVER (looking at you, Blue Jackets). That game was also the second-highest attendance for a Calder Cup Playoff game ever.
With all of these incredible achievements made by the Monsters, it's quite hard to believe that Cleveland sports fans didn't even realize that they had won the title. Perhaps next year they'll realize that the best team that plays at the Quicken Loans Arena plays on ice, not hardwood.
