A combined 25,269 fans showed up over the weekend for the Lake Erie Monsters' two-game AHL series against the San Antonio Rampage. That was partly because it's February, which begins the time of year when AHL teams tend to draw their largest crowds. It was also because Saturday was Cleveland Hockey Rocks Night, and the Monsters were giving away t-shirts adorned with the old NHL Cleveland Barons logo (as well as wearing vintage Barons jerseys of their own...see the photo above).
But largely – perhaps mostly – it was because the opponent was the Rampage, a team comprised substantially of players who up until this season had called Cleveland home when Lake Erie was affiliated with the Colorado Avalanche.