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Cleveland Monsters’ Eric Robinson and Zac Dalpe off to Hot Starts

By William Espy

CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 05: Cleveland Monsters left wing Eric Robinson (19) is announced as the second star of the game following the American Hockey League game between the Rockford IceHogs and Cleveland Monsters on October 5, 2018, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. Cleveland defeated Rockford 4-1. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 05: Cleveland Monsters left wing Eric Robinson (19) is announced as the second star of the game following the American Hockey League game between the Rockford IceHogs and Cleveland Monsters on October 5, 2018, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. Cleveland defeated Rockford 4-1. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Cleveland Monsters have a leader in Zac Dalpe and may have a future fan favorite in Eric Robinson.

Eric Robinson made his Cleveland Monsters debut on Friday and scored his first professional goal later that night. Less than a day later, he was once again playing against the Rockford IceHogs and scoring important goals.

So far through his first two career AHL games, Robinson has tallied a total of three goals. All of which came in his first four periods of play. The 23-year-old New Jersey native is a former captain of the Princeton University Tigers.

If Robinson continues this style of play with the Cleveland Monsters, expect him to get a call up from the Columbus Blue Jackets fairly soon if there’s any need for a call up.

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Meanwhile career NHL fringe player and former Ohio State Buckeye Zac Dalpe is also off to an impressive start. Dalpe has posted a stat line of 2-2-4 to start his season, and although he doesn’t have as much potential as Robinson he could turn out to be a fan favorite and an AHL level star for the Cleveland Monsters.

This is the start of Dalpe’s third season with the Cleveland Monsters and his tenth partial season at the AHL level. The 28 year old has constantly bounced between the NHL and AHL, however with the youth movement in Columbus and the amount of breakthrough prospects as of late it seems highly likely that he’ll spend the entirety or close to the entirety of the season in Cleveland this year.

The duo has led the Monsters to a 2-0-0 start against the Rockford IceHogs and they could easily lead the team to a long Calder Cup playoffs run with the amount of talent on the team. It goes without saying however that the season is only two games old and a lot can happen between now and the spring.

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