Monsters excited for perennial Purple Night

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will not be as full as usual for the occasion due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but the Monsters are excited to host their staple Purple Night for cancer awareness.

One night of the season is always more special than others for the Monsters, and this year that happens to be April 3 against their nemesis, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Purple Night usually attracts 12,000 or more fans to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That won’t be the case for the 7 p.m. faceoff against the Griffins because novel coronavirus restrictions limit the crowd to 4,100, but the theme is still the same — Monsters players will wear purple sweaters sporting the American Cancer Society logo. The FieldHouse curtain will be lit in purple to represent awareness for all cancers. Fans attending the game are encouraged to wear purple to honor someone close to them who might have beaten cancer or was lost to the disease. Fans can bid on the purple sweaters worn by the Monsters by going to the DASH auction platform. Anyone can bid; attending the game isn’t necessary. The auction will be open April 3 from 5-10 p.m., with more details on bidding available on clevelandmonsters.com and through the Monsters Mobile App. The money raised from the auction will be donated through the Monsters Community Foundation to local charities benefiting Northeast Ohio families touched by cancer. The jerseys will be sanitized and shipped to the winners. The auction the last two years has raised more than $33,000 for the Monsters Community Foundation. The Monsters are 7-5-1 and looking for their first win over Grand Rapids in 2021. The Griffins beat the Monsters twice in regulation and once in overtime. The Monsters lost three of their first four games to start the season, but they were 5-2 in March. The Griffins handed Cleveland one of its March losses — a 5-2 defeat at the FieldHouse on March 20. It was the Monsters’ first game after a two-week layoff. They were clearly rusty. The Monsters played four games in a seven-day span after the Grand Rapids loss and won three times. “The guys were talking in practice today about finally having some games that are back to back, three in four nights and four in eight,” Coach Mike Eaves said April 2 on Zoom. “They like the rhythm. I think as we get to see that rhythm, we’ll get to see where we really are. We like what we’ve seen.” Eaves will have his desire to stay busy filled soon enough. The Monsters’ next game after facing Grand Rapids on Purple Night is a home game against the Griffins on April 9. It begins a stretch in which they play eight times in 15 nights.