When the International Hockey League's Cleveland Indians took the ice in 1929, it began a storied professional hockey history that includes one of the most successful American Hockey League teams ever, the Cleveland Barons, who won nine Calder Cup championships in fewer than 40 seasons. In the 1970s, Cleveland was also briefly home to the World Hockey Association's Crusaders and the National Hockey League's Barons. The current Lake Erie Monsters continue the hockey tradition in northeast Ohio as the area's sixth professional team, spanning 10 decades and four different arenas.

Jon Sladek is a freelance writer from Middleburg Heights, Ohio. A former staff writer for the Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch in Montgomery, Alabama, his work has also appeared in several magazines and websites. He is a veteran of the US Air Force.