CLEVELAND, Oh – It has been well documented that the last time the city of Cleveland won a major sports title was back in 1964. While the city had the NHL for a brief two year stint, the AHL has had a long history in Cleveland, and a successful one at that. Well even the “hockey godz” got in on the jock on Saturday night making the city wait just a tad longer than they wanted too. 
The Lake Erie Monsters and the Hershey Bears were scoreless through 60 minutes of regulation time and waited until 1.9 seven seconds left in overtime to finally put an end to the long suffering Cleveland fans with a thrilling 1-0 win in Game Four of the AHL’s Calder Cup Finals to sweep the series in four games and end Cleveland’s title draught.
With a face-off in the Hershey zone, the Monsters won the face-off to the point and got to the Bears net where Justin Peters made the initial save but playoff MVP Oliver Bjorkstrand, a third round pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013, got his most important goal of the playoffs but getting the rebound and with almost no room to spare fire a shit down low that Peters never saw with the crowd in front. The puck got by Peters’ left leg and into the net with 1.9 seconds left and set off one heck of a celebration.
Anton Forsberg made 23 saves in Cup-clinching win – file photo by Brianna O’Mara
Bjorkstrand’s goal was his 10th of the playoffs and tied an AHL record for his sixth game-winning goal of the playoffs. The Monster finished with a run of 15 wins in 17 games. Their only losses in the playoffs came at the hands of the Grand Rapid Griffins. Not to be outdone was the stellar goaltending of Anton Forsberg who made 23 saves for the shutout win and finished the playoffs undefeated with a 9-0 record.
The Monsters title is the 10th in city history which also includes the Cleveland Barons and is oddly enough one less than their Calder Cup Finals opponent the Hershey Bears. The AHL was celebrating their 80th year history and finished it in historic fashion. The 19,665 in attendance was the second largest in league history and the largest in the state of Ohio. The league also set a combined attendance record for the regular season and the post-season together in one season.
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