Just realized the Monsters have played 19 games headed into Friday night's match-up with San Antonio, which means one quarter of the regular season is gone. That was fast.

Anyway, what have we learned so far?

* The goaltending is maybe better than some of us had thought, if still inconsistent. I like both of those kids in net.

* The offense has been pretty good (a little over 3 goals/game), but the team we're chasing for first place in the division (Abbotsford) is doing it with defense and goaltending. Barry Brust will cool down sooner or later, but the fact is that the Heat are giving up 1.78 goals per game while we're giving up an even 3.00. Would like to see that tighten up over the next several weeks if we can.

* As expected before the season started, we're small and fast. A little too small for my liking sometimes. But I love how quickly we counterattack and the way we actually set up intelligent scoring opportunities...not something we've always seen here in six seasons of Monsters hockey!

* We're a great shootout team so far (also something we haven't seen a lot of). Hopefully those extra points will help down the stretch.


As always, just some random thoughts that may or may not be worth anything. Would be interested in hearing other reactions to the first 25% of the season.

i dont see much that i like so far. 2-6 at home and if you look we didnt win a nov home game thats pathetic.attendance is way down the team looks sluggish and the goalies are ranked 27 and 30 out of 45 in the league(not good).i thought 100% we'd make the playoffs at this rate were lucky to finish .500..i hope in wrong.

Attendance has gone down somewhat, but Monsters are still holding there own league wise,,Still ranked second overall right behind Hershey think that's pretty decent. They need to win in front of big crowds to bring back the casual "something to do" fan.

what i see is the defence not shooting the puck agaian..new coach, same ole song...last night, SA packed in there defence and left the points open..the defence did not shoot..hey defencemen you need to shoot to bring out the guys too open up holes in front of the goalie...from what i see, i can coach better...going to be along season

I agree with the same old song and dance with the defense. I just don't understand why we always seem to have a problem in this area.

Im still on the fence about the goaltending. Im not sure I like the idea of the back and forth with the 2 of them but neither one has seemed to be a standout to grab the spot.

Im agree with you Sens on the shootouts. They are much better than they have been in past seasons. Much less nailbiting than before.

The October team and the November team seemed as they were 2 different animals. They need to get back to October. Although they seem to be much better on the road than they have in past seasons. Hopefully they can get back to winning more at home in December and the rest of the season.

we are small, we may be fast but we are small, Friday's game against San Antonio showed that. they got pushed around the whole game, as soon as we got the puck there was a san antonio player on ours, their forecheck on saturday was aggressive and we couldnt do anything with it. still dont have anyone in front of the net while on the power play or when we have control of the puck in the offensive zone, that needs to change you have to go to the dirty areas sometimes to get goals.
the goaltending... good at times but suspect the rest, same with the defence.
offence is up and down, we get blown out one game then we figure it out the next, there needs to be more consistency. this team shot out of the cannon earlier in the season but then the same old song and dance showed up, now its time to bring that back and get moving. if anything this city needs a winner and i don't care who can figure it out first but it needs a winner.
HEY BOYS LOOK UP IN THE RAFTERS AND SEE ALL THOSE CALDER CUPS, i would like to see a banner next to that that says lake erie on it.
i'm out.

I am not sure how I feel yet.. I agree with just about everything people are saying about this post. We are a small team with the exception of a few players and over time I think it will hurt us as the physical play of other teams will eventually take a toll. We do have an influx of young players who can put the puck in the net and that makes the games more entertaining. I am still not sold on either of the goalies and not there fault as niether has been given the opportunity to get secure in the net as they are sharing time between the pipes pretty equally. Our home record is not good and niether is the attendance at most of the games.I am not counting the team out quite just yet it is still early enough that our new coach and Asst coach (Dean & Jock) along with Oliver will hopefully be able to get the guys to turn things around.. the one thing I do know is we need to be a lot stronger in our division if we hope to make the playoffs. Hopefully by the end of December we will have a better idea where we are.... GO MONSTERS

Just a note on the attendance...

My sense is that it has actually been just fine. Historically over the last 20 years (and this goes back to even the Lumberjacks), hockey doesn't draw the large crowds in Cleveland until after Christmas. I don't know if that's because the Browns' season is over or people have gotten through the holiday rush and are more likely to think about hockey or what, but the point is that, given what we've seen almost across the board since the early 90s, attendance is pretty well where it should be at this point. Expect the five-figure crowds to start turning up in January.

Of course, if someone has some historical data to disprove what I just said, I'll be happy to withdrawal my statement.

You guys are always near the top of the league in attendance, look at OKC averaging less than 3 thousand a game with 4 NHLers on the roster. I think its great that in a city with NFL, MLB and the NBA you guys draw that well for minor league hockey. I am a Texas Stars season ticket holder and there is a whole lot more to do in Cleveland than in Austin and we draw 5k on a weekend game. We only drew 6,500 when we were in the finals 3 years ago. Calvin Pickard is a stud and is used to playing with a less than great D. He is used to getting a lot of starts as well so he may be having trouble adjusting to only playing once or twice a week. I have been following him for years when he was in Seattle and was able to see him in his first pro start last year against Texas. He does better when facing lots of shots. Look for him to take over as we roll into the new year. Enjoy him while you have him, he is a great guy and should be in an Avs uniform in the near future!