Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Rest is a funny thing this time of year.
Too little rest, and even the most well-conditioned teams will eventually start to falter and break down at the worst possible time. Too much recovery time, and the accuracy and precision play required to make a long push in the Calder Cup Playoffs can quickly disappear.
The Cleveland Monsters have already gone more than a week since eliminating Syracuse in their North Division semifinal series with a triple-overtime victory on May 3. And they don’t open the next round until Thursday, when the Toronto Marlies visit Rocket Arena.
The stretch to reach the division final was not always good. Cleveland lost five in a row to end March, and while their hold on the playoffs was never under serious threat, that slump added to the pressure of last season. They were able to adjust enough to finish the regular season with a 4-1-0-2 record, closing in on third place in the division and meeting the title-contending Crunch team until the final week.
Cleveland managed the only split at home to start their semifinal series, but they picked up a double overtime victory along the way to advance.
So it’s been a busy, demanding and stressful time for the Monsters, which means this extended break may be well-timed. It’s also an interesting time for the entire Columbus Blue Jackets organization, when a dynamic force reaches Cleveland.
Columbus head coach Rick Bowness he had strong, specific comments for his players at the end of the season, emphasizing that he wanted a better organizational culture. When someone like Bowness — whose coaching career began in 1982 as a player coach with the AHL’s Sherbrooke Jets — speaks, it resonates throughout the hockey world. His 21-11-5 record after taking over in Columbus in January further underscored his message, and the Blue Jackets have announced he will return in 2026-27.
Organizational culture change often has roots at the AHL level. After all, instilling those traditions in first- or second-year players is different than replacing veterans. Cleveland, starting with the head coach Trent Vogelhuberit is an important part of that effort. A native of Ohio and a member of the organization for the better part of the past 20 years after being drafted by the Blue Jackets in 2007, Vogelhuber won the Calder Trophy as a player with the Monsters in 2016, rejoined the club as an assistant coach in 2018 and took over as head coach in 2022.
Jet Greaves, Kirill Marchenko, Jake Christiansen again Denton Mateychuk headline a list of green jackets that have improved under Vogelhuber in Cleveland. Luca Del Belluz, Mikael Pyyhtiä again Luca Pinelli they all saw time with the parent team this season. In Colorado Nick BlankenburgBuffalo’s Josh Dunne and Florida Daniel Tarasov they have become NHL regulars elsewhere.
There are, to put it mildly, a lot of moving pieces in this organization right now, and the job of an AHL head coach is to manage those ever-changing elements.
And like most AHL head coaches, Vogelhuber is big on building ideas and execution. A six-month regular season provides time for practice and 72 games reinforces those goals. Come game time, team practices must become second nature in order to be successful. After winning the streak at Syracuse, Vogelhuber thought back to a tough weekend in March where the Monsters lost 6-2 and 6-3 to the Crunch.
“That was a humbling weekend,” Vogelhuber recalled. “And I remember we talked after that and we said, ‘That’s the team we’re going to play, the team we have to beat, and we’re going to build for the month left of the season to do it.
“There have been good and bad times since then, but I’m proud of them, I’m proud of them for continuing to get better, for continuing to trust me and for continuing to fight.”
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
