Monsters come up short in 5-2 loss to Bears

Photo via Cleveland Monsters

HERSHEY, PA – The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Hershey Bears 5-2 on Sunday evening at Giant Center. With the loss, the Monsters are now 1-1-0-0 and are currently in fourth place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

The Bears started the game with a goal from Hardy Häman Aktell at 7:32 and a power-play tally from Ethen Frank at 11:59, but Brendan Gaunce grabbed his first marker of the year at 15:19 off helpers from Trey Fix-Wolansky and Jake Christiansen to cut into Hershey’s lead. The Bears added a goal from Mike Vecchione at 17:28 to send the Monsters into the first intermission trailing 3-1. Marcus Bjork notched a tally at 8:54 of the second period with assists from Dmitri Voronkov and Mikael Pyyhtia, but Hershey’s Pierrick Dubé converted on the man advantage at 19:04 putting Cleveland behind 4-2 after 40 minutes. The game was pushed out of reach for Cleveland after Hershey’s Mike Sgarbossa recorded a marker at 16:37 to bring the final score to 5-2.

Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan made 22 saves in defeat while Hershey’s Clay Stevenson made 19 saves for the victory.

The Monsters return home to host the Syracuse Crunch on Friday, October 20, at 7:00 p.m. for Opening Night presented by SeatGeek at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The first 7,500 fans will receive a Schedule Magnet with Detachable Monsters Magnet courtesy of University Hospitals with tickets available here. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.

Stay up to date on all Monsters news with the Monsters Mobile App presented by University Hospitals available to download at the Apple Store or Google Play Store. Be sure to follow the Monsters on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Scoring:

		1st		2nd		3rd		OT		SO		Final
CLE		1		1		0		–		–		2
HER		3		1		1		–		–		5

 

Shots/Special Teams:

		Shots		PP		PK		PIM
CLE		21		0/4		2/4		8 min / 4 inf
HER		27		2/4		4/4		8 min / 4 inf

 

Goaltenders:

		Goaltender		Outcome		Saves		GA		Record
CLE		Cajan		L		22		5		0-1-0
HER		Stevenson		W		19		2		1-1-0

Cleveland Record: 1-1-0-0, 4th North Division

Hershey Record: 1-1-0-0, T-2nd Atlantic Division

Cleveland Monsters Official Press Release