A nice crowd was in attendance for the Monsters Friday one dollar hotdog night at the "Q".. No one dollar hotdog night would be complete without a hot dog eating contest, as two contestants stuffed themselves with as many dogs as they could muster in a thirty second time frame. Even my stomach ached after watching that one.

The game began in ominous fashion for Lake Erie . #23 David Jones was called for hooking 25 seconds in. The Monsters did a nice job killing off the penalty, right out of the box, David Jones made his presence known. Fantastic passing from McCeod to Jones to goal scorer Ray Bascias, and just like that, the Monsters were up one zip. Less than thirty seconds later, Eric Healey added to his Monster leading scoring total, assist by Smith. 2-0.

Minutes later #5 Ryan Stokes two minutes for hooking. Monsters went on the power play. A bad give-away at center ice by the Monsters opened up a short handed chance for the IceHogs as #18 Jeff Jillson fell down and the puck went right to the IceHogs, who ripped a shot though the crease. Bacashihua denied the short-handed chance, keeping the game at 2-1. Finally, after a home ice first period, the Monsters came out on top in the shots on goal 14-12.

Second period David Jones did the dirty work down low. In one sequence, he crushed an IceHog, held the puck, passed behind the net to the other side of the ice, skated to the opposite side of the ice, slammed another IceHog against the boards regained the puck!! It was a fantastic individual effort unfortunately not capped with a score, but still.

Rockford got on the board with a goal from St. Pierre , assists to Bickel and Hobson, at 11:30 into the second period. If Martin St. Pierre were represented in a Nintendo game, he would be faster than everyone around him. He was easy to follow not only for his speed, but was noticeably the smallest guy on the ice.

#22 Steve Margeson popped off a pair two minute penalties in a row. The Monsters killed off the first one, and right out of the box Margeson took a second one. That one cost them. One minute and 17 seconds in to the penalty kill #22 Troy Brouwer scored assisted by St Pierre and Versteep.

As with all hockey contests, the fighting is as entertaining as the games, and tonight was no exception. #19 Adam Berti and #8 Cody McLeod each received Five minutes for fighting. With one minute to go in the period #23 David Jones was called for slashing. The shots on goal evened up to 25-24 in favor the of Icehogs. They headed into the locker room 2-2.

The third period yielded on score for each club, ending the regulation in a 1-1 tie. The Monsters took the lead early in the period and it looked like they would hold on to win this one. With five minutes left in the game however, the Icehogs put on a furious charge. Corbin drew a penalty on #24 Preston Ryan for hooking with only four minutes remaining in the contest. Rockford was denied! The defense held, and the crowd grew optimistic of a win. Unfortunately with 1:41 left the Icehogs pressure finally paid off and they scored from the corner on St Pierre 's second goal of the night on a puck Bacashihua should have covered up.

In the overtime frame, each team is reduced a skater and the teams play four-on- four for five minutes. Lake Erie charged down ice on the breakaway and just missed the win on a shot that hit the post by David Jones. The Monsters looked to close out he game after Rockford player #20 Petri Kontiola was called for hooking. Only twenty three seconds left of the four-on-three and the Monsters squeezed off a nice shot from the point, but couldn't score. Even though the Monsters outplayed the Icehogs, the scored remained 3-3 after Overtime and the game headed into a shootout. If there was any justice, the Monstes would prevail. On this day, justice took a vacation and the Icehogs won the shootout 3-2 and the game 4-3. Third star was #25 Chris Stewart of the Monsters Second star for the game #2 Ray Macias. Star of the game was a deserving Martin St. Pierre of Rockford . He is destined for the NHL if some team will see their way clear of his small stature and give him a chance.