COLUMBUS, OHIO — As coaches and players for the Lake Erie Monsters, they shared the experience of raising a championship trophy — the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup — overhead. Avalanche coach Jared Bednar and assistant Nolan Pratt, and several Columbus players, were together with the Monsters’ 16-2 run through the AHL playoffs last spring, and they encountered one another again Monday night when the Avalanche played the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
“He’s a great guy,” Blue Jackets center Lukas Sedlak, 23, said of Bednar before the game. “He demands a lot from his players, but I think that’s good.