CLEVELAND — There's nothing quite like a game day experience inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, and while seeing Cleveland's stars on the hardwood draws thousands out to games—those on the rise who take the ice each night are doing the same.
Going to a Cleveland Monsters game comes with the promise of fierce competition. Explosive offense, edge-of-your-seat defense and, of course, the thrill of a violent fight here and there.
On game day, the sounds of cheers and chants weave together with the crash of bodies on the glass and sticks sending the puck whizzing toward the net.
"It's as fast and as physical of a game as there is. And I don't think you really appreciate that until you see it in person. And obviously the closer to the glass, the better," said Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber.
Cleveland has long been considered a football town, and while this may be true in some regard, there's a deep-rooted love for hockey that might not be obvious at first but becomes undeniable when the Monsters take the ice.
On any given game day, thousands of fans—ranging from live-and-breathe hockey enthusiasts to first-time attendees—fill the seats in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. This season, the Monsters are leading the American Hockey League in fan attendance, with 10,156 fans per game on average.
That's nothing new for Cleveland's minor league team.
"We lead the league in attendance almost year after year and we’re right there again," Vogelhuber said. "Better support from anybody in the league and makes it a real advantage for us to be able to play in the building at home."
It's easy to go to Monsters games when the team is playing the way they have most of this season. For the majority of the year, the Monsters held the top spot in the AHL North Division. A January lull saw them dip to second, but still sit just one game behind the Syracuse Crunch.
But Monsters fandom goes well beyond the guys on the ice and the way the team is playing because hockey in Cleveland truly involves the fans. That's another reason attendance is so strong.
"The environment. I guarantee you you can go to football, you can go to baseball, you can go anywhere else but you’re not going to get this intimate environment with this type of rowdy crowd," said three-year season ticket holder Nicholas Calabris.
Take, for example, when an official timeout is called snd Monsters' public-address announcer Jason Sokol informs the area.
"Ooo-fficial timeout," he says each time, to which the fans, all at once in unison, yell back, "What official!?"
Other calls and responses trickle through the arena, learned by new fans as the game goes on and passed on season after season.
While some teams have their own chants and traditions, what happens at Monsters games is special to Cleveland.
"It’s a unique experience. I’ve been to other arenas all over the country—they don’t do that. It’s like a one-of-a-kind thing in Cleveland," Calabris said.
From family ticket offers and promotional giveaways to fan-driven events like the Teddy Bear Toss around the holidays (which sees fans throw thousands of stuffed animals on the ice that get donated to local charities), there's always something special to get fans in the seats. There are even tickets that allow fans to ride on the Zamboni.
A Monsters game day experience can be like a fever dream. Experience is the best way to describe it. To know, you have to go. And the Monsters make it easy. Tickets are cheap, promotions are aplenty, and a private group called the Monsters Hockey Club sees season ticket holders often offering their seats up to new fans for them to check things out.
Attendance stays high because fans have fun, and for many, at the end of a Monsters game comes the next thought: "When will my next game be?"
Cleveland sports fan James Ramsey perhaps said it best after celebrating a win at his first-ever Monsters game this season:
"It’s a different experience. The fans are awesome. The team is awesome. I’ll be back. Go Monsters!"
