Monsters switching to East Conference

By Jim den Hollander

Midwesthockey.info Editor

The winners of the Central Division managed to convert that into a Calder Cup championship in three of the past five seasons in the American Hockey League, but this time around the Midwest-based teams in the pro Minor Pro hockey league found themselves on the golf course early.

One trend that continued though was non-regular season champions getting hot at the right time. In fact, it was the fourth and final seed out of the Central – the Rockford IceHogs – making the deepest push this time around.

After working all season to nail down the division’s top spot, the Chicago Wolves, a minor league affiliate for the Vegas Knights, were bounced in three straights by the IceHogs – top minor affiliate for the Wolves.

A season after claiming the Calder Cup, the Grand Rapids Griffins were first round victims this season, grabbing the third seed, but falling to the Manitoba Moose in the opening round – albeit in an exciting series that went to the five-game limit.

The Ice Hogs continued its march, winning the Division in five games against the Moose before finding its own road blocked when the Texas Stars captured the Robert W. Clarke Trophy as West Conference champions, with a 4-2 edge in the Best-of-Seven series.

The Stars advanced to a thrilling Calder Cup championship series and pushed it to the seven-game max before finally succumbing to the Toronto Marlies.

The same conference final will not be possible next season as the two Texas teams – Stars and San Antonio Rampage will find themselves back in the Central with its Midwest rivals. The Texas teams played in the newly formed Pacific division the previous three seasons, but with the addition of Colorado to the mix for 2018-19 campaign there were some divisional alignment changes.

Just a few years removed from winning the Calder Cup, the Cleveland Monsters found the going rough in 2017-18, finishing well out of the playoff hunt. They will make the biggest change for the upcoming season, switching from the West Conference to the East as it lines up in the North Conference, joining a core of New York-State based teams from Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton and Utica along with Ontario-based teams in Toronto and Belleville and the Laval Rockets in QC.

The other five-Midwest based teams – Wolves, IceHogs, Griffins, Iowa Wild and Milwaukee Admirals – will remain in the Central along with the Moose, Stars and Rampage.