With the Monsters, a strong group has become a stronger team

CLEVELAND – Last week’s Game 4 between the Lake Erie Monsters and Ontario Reign was “minor league” in name only.

Everything else about the experience was something to savor for a promising team that has become a great team over the last seven months. Nearly 11,000 people jammed into Quicken Loans Arena to watch their team vie for its first-ever berth in the Calder Cup Finals (which begin tonight in Hershey), and to do so, they had to take down the defending champions one last time.

Fingernails eroded, palms sweaty and butts on the edge of seats, they finally got what they came for after nearly 90 minutes of hockey.

Lukas Sedlak, who has become some kind of story this spring, opened and closed the scoring in Game 4. A perhaps unlikely candidate to lead this talented team in playoff scoring, Sedlak has not only been lights-out offensively but he’s also been tasked with the toughest assignments and plays in all situations.

The first strike came 6:26 into the first period after the Monsters weathered an early, desperate push from the Reign – a thrust they knew was …

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