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jevers
Administrator
USA
1367 Posts |
 Posted - 04/05/2010 : 11:15:03 AM
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CYCLONES TO PLAY SOUTH CAROLINA
Cincinnati Meets Stingrays For Third Straight Season
COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, ended the 2009-10 regular season with a 44-25-3 record (.632 winning percentage). The club will open the Kelly Cup playoffs with games against South Carolina on Tuesday, April 6 in the first game of the best of five series. It is a 'Big Beer Tuesday' with 24 ounce cans of Labatts, Molson and Molson Ice priced at two dollars each. Wednesday, April 7, the teams meet again on a 'Wet Wednesday' with one dollar Miller High Life and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Game three will be played at North Charleston Coliseum on Friday (April 9) at 7pm. Game four, if needed, would be Saturday (April 10) at 7pm. The decisive fifth game would be Sunday (April 11) at 7pm. All road playoff games will be carried on ESPN 1530.
ENDING UP...: The 44 wins registered by the Cyclones were the most in the American Conference this season. Cincinnati finished second in the North Division, fifth in the American Conference. Kalamazoo, which led the North Division with 94 points (three more than Cincinnati), finished tied for the conference championship with Charlotte and South Carolina.
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The Cyclones, the fifth-seeded team in the American Conference, will take on fourth-seeded South Carolina in the quarterfinals round. The best of five series will take place this week. In the other series, the winner of the Cincinnati-South Carolina clash will take on the winner of the first-seed (Charlotte) and eighth-seed (Toledo). That best of seven conference semifinal will begin as early as April 14. The other matchups in the opening round feature Elmira versus Florida and Kalamazoo versus Reading. The remaining winners will meet for the conference championship and the American Conference titlist will battle the National Conference winner (western half of the league) for the Kelly Cup in late May.
END OF THE RUN: The Cyclones string of consecutive seasons with North Division regular season titles ended on Saturday night in the loss at Wheeling. In 2006-07, the Cyclones entered the final night of the season with a chance to win the North Division--but finished third, three points behind Dayton. In 2007-08, the club captured the division title on March 17 and then went on to win the Kelly Cup. Last season, the club won the championship on the final day of the season with a win over Johnstown. Saturday night (April 3), the club had a chance to claim the title before Kalamazoo's victory.
ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones dropped a 4-1 verdict at Wheeling in the regular season finale. Matt Pierce netted the lone goal of the contest for Cincinnati in the defeat. Jeremy Smith took the defeat, turning away 23 shots.
ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: For the second straight game, the Cyclones hung the first three goals on the scoreboard in the first period and then took the victory. This time, it was a four assist game from Jimmy Kilpatrick that paved the way to a 5-1 win over Johnstown. Jason Jozsa notched a pair of goals to lead the offense. Rookie defenseman Cullen Eddy notched his first pro assist. Mathieu Aubin also registered his 100th point with the Cincinnati club.
ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT: In a must win game, the Cyclones claimed a 6-5 shootout win at Kalamazoo. Cincinnati needed a win in regulation time to control its own destiny for the North Division title--but now is one point away from being able to handle things itself. The Cyclones raced to a 3-0 lead in the first period and held on as Kalamazoo tied the game on three different occassions-but never led. Dustin Sproat had a pair of goals to lead the offense, while Jason Jozsa and Jimmy Kilpatrick each added a goal and an assist. Doug Krantz had a pair of assists also. In the shootout, Jeremy Smith knocked away four of five shots--the last two with highlight reel poke checks--while Kilpatrick and Barret Ehgoetz had the scores. Ehgoetz notched his on the final shot of the night.
ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones drew 10,512 for the game April 2. It was the second-largest crowd of the season and the fifth time the club put a crowd among the top ten in team history. Nine times this season the club surpassed 6000 in attendance. Cincinnati finished the year with 139,919--an average of 3887. That is an increase of 25.2 percent over a year ago.
AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW...: The Cyclones went 17-8-2 (.667 winning percentage) after Febnary 1. The club collected an American Conference-high 44 wins. It was the second-fastest in team history that the club has reached 44 victories.
WINNERS AT HOME...: The Cyclones won 23 games on home ice, third-most by any team in the American Conference and fifth-most in the ECHL. Cincinnati went 11-3-2 (.750) in the last 16 contests at U.S. Bank Arena, dating back to Janaury 25. While the record is impressive--the defensive effort is stellar. The team limited the opposition to 34 goals, which is a 2.02 goals against average. Of the 34 goals--Half (17) have come on the power play or by empty net.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Cyclones won their 21st away game of the season in the triumph at Kalamazoo Wednesday. That gives Cincinnati the most road triumphs in the American Conference and second-most in the league (Idaho has 23). The Cyclones were 17-8 (.680 winning percentage) away from U.S. Bank Arena since Nov. 29.
ROAD WARRIORS, PART 2: Since the start of the 2007-08 campaign, the Cyclones have more wins and a better win percentage on the road than any other team in the ECHL. Cincinnati has a 68-36-4 record (.654 winning percentage). The squad now has three consecutive 20-plus road win seasons.
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS: The Cyclones defensive effort for the season was among the best in the ECHL. Cincinnati permitted 2.78 goals per game--second-best in the league. Rookie goaltender Jeremy Smith turned in a 2.63 goals against average, second-best in the ECHL. Rookie Robert Mayer posted a 2.81 goals against average, sixth-best in the league as well. The Cyclones allowed 26.0 shots per game--again, second-best on the circuit. The penalty killers clocked in with an 80.6 percentage, which was eleventh.
CLUB RECORD REACHED: The Cyclones have a league-high and team record 16 shorthanded goals. Twice previously, the squad had reached 14 shorthanded goals in a season. Last year, South Carolina led the ECHL with 18 shorthanded goals.
FORMER CYCLONES DOT AHL PLAYOFF ROSTERS: The Cyclones have 14 former players on the American Hockey League 'Clear Day Period' lists. Only players on the Clear Day Period lists are eligible for the AHL's Calder Cup playoffs unless emergency situations exist. Five former Cyclones are on the Hamilton Bulldogs list: David Desharnais, Cedrick Desjardins, Ryan Russell, Frederic St. Denis and J.T. Wyman. The Milwaukee Admirals have four former Cincinnati players: Mark Dekanich, Mark Matheson, Chris Mueller and Mark Santorelli. Other former Cyclones eligible to participate in the Calder Cup playoffs are: Jimmy Bonneau (Rochester), Jean-Michel Daoust (Houston), Jon Gleed (Bridgeport), Kyle Rank (Portland) and Greg Stewart (Chicago).
CHUCK MOVES UP: While the ECHL league media guide does not keep it as an official statistic, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber reached another milestone with the win over Johnstown on March 18. Through the first four full seasons of coaching in their career, Weber has moved into third place on the wins list with 177 (passing Glen Gulutzan). Dave Farrish holds the ECHL record for most wins through his first four full seasons as a coach with 186. Chuck has passed current ECHL coaches Matt Thomas (Stockton) and Greg Puhalski (Wheeling) this season. Next on the list in second place is his former boss in Utah, Jason Christie at 179 wins.
TOTAL RECALL: The Cyclones had defenseman Brett Motherwell and forward Maxime Lacroix advance to the American Hockey League during the past three weeks. Motherwell was loaned to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders on March 4 and Lacroix returned to Hamilton this week. This season, a total of sixteen Cyclones players have been promoted a total of 27 times. A total of 240 games have been played by men who have represented Cincinnati this season at the AHL level. More than 260 man-games have been lost to the Cyclones as a result of these advancements.
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