2023 Cleveland Monsters AHL Outdoor Classic: The Coaches

CLEVELAND, OH - The Cleveland Monsters will host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday afternoon in what will be the American Hockey League's (AHL) 11th outdoor game all-time - and the first-ever outdoor pro hockey game in the city of Cleveland.

The game will be played at FirstEnergy Stadium - home of the NFL's Cleveland Browns. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.

While playing hockey outdoors comes with its challenges and quirks, it's not something that Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber is overly concerned about.  With Friday's scheduled practices moved indoors due to inclement weather, Saturday morning's warmup skate will be the first time either team will get to skate on the ice and get used to its subtleties.

"I think that's just, in general, something that can be tough for players - out of your normal routine in a new atmosphere. I think for our group, specifically right now. I'm less worried about that, just based on the way the last three games have gone," Vogelhuber said, mentioning that the Monsters enter Saturday's game in the midst of a four-game winless skid. " We've just found ways to lose in the last couple. So that desperation, urgency and kind of focus is something we talked about today. We hammered it down here in practice. So hopefully they they got the message there and are ready to just compete that's the number one thing.

For the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, they opted to head over to FirstEnergy Stadium Friday afternoon after their practice indoors just to get a lay of the land and see the setup so that Saturday morning's arrival wouldn't come as a complete shock to the surroundings.

Coincidentally, while the Pittsburgh Penguins held their annual Dad's trip while the NHL club was on the road in Nashville and Tampa Bay earlier this week, the AHL Penguins are having their dads along for the experience at the outdoor game this weekend.

"Everyone's pretty excited," Penguins head coach JD Forrest told InsideAHLHockey.com after the team's practice at the OBM Arena in nearby Strongville, Ohio. "It's a unique experience. Try to soak it in. [We] certainly have a job to do, but that coupled with the dads being here on this trip makes for a special weekend."