Hannikainen hatty leads Monsters to road win

After dropping the first two games of its three-game road trip on the weekend, Markus Hannikainen led the Cleveland Monsters to the winning track, firing three goals as the Monsters whipped the Iowa Wild 7-3 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Tuesday (Oct. 25).

The Monsters grabbed control with three unanswered first period goals and both teams fired a trio in a wild middle period before the Monsters clinched it with the lone goal of the third.

Along with Hannikainen who fired his first three of the season, the Monsters collected a goal and assist from Daniel Zaar and other goals from Dean Kukan, Dante Salituro and rookie Jordan Maletta, a 21-year-old forward who signed with the Monsters as a Free Agent after five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League.

For the Wild, Jordan Schroeder, Tyler Graovac and Pat Cannone each fired their first of the season.

Anton Forsberg made 34 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Monsters, Alex Stalock (23:18 17/22) and Steve Michalek (36:14 20/21) both saw action.

Weekend Games

All of the Midwest based teams are off on Wednesday night and the Monsters get the weekend off to an early start with a Thursday/Friday (Oct. 27-28) pair against the visiting San Antonio Rampage of the Pacific Division at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

The Grand Rapids Griffins will travel south to the Bojangles Coliseum to play the Charlotte Checkers in a pair on Friday and Saturday night. Other Friday night games will see the Stars wrapping up a seven-game season opening homestand against the Milwaukee Admirals and the Rockford Ice Hogs will host the Chicago Wolves at the BMO Harris Center.

With its long homestand in the past, the Wild will begin a three game road trip in Milwaukee as the Admirals play a late home opener at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the Wolves will host the IceHogs in a return match at the Allstate Arena.

On Sunday the Monsters will visit the Chicago Wolves at Allstate and the Admirals will make the trip to Rockford to wrap up its weekend against the IceHogs.