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elvis77
(Loves To Post!)
1435 Posts |
 Posted - 11/12/2008 : 6:45:53 PM
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at this point i've watched every team team in the division play, with the exception of trenton. wheeling and j-town have obviously improved. both are still physical, but are much quicker and more skilled than last year. at this point, depending on injuries and call ups, odds are they will be battling it out for the division. 3rd, 4th and 5th places are going to be a toss up; our cyclones, reading, elmira and dayton all being in the running.
as far as the cyclones go, we all know the defense needs to be improved. time will tell if chuck can get them together, or whether he can get the players that can. if he does, i see know reason why we won't move up and contend with wheeling and j-town. we have the offense to score, after witnessing a couple of barn burners against wheeling, it makes sense that if the d comes together, this team can go on a run.
in the off season i was expecting reading to be tops in the division based on what they did in the playoffs. it seems that the affiliate change has effected them. i can't recall who they were affiliated with last season, but they definitely received better talent from them than they currently are from toronto. from what i've observed of them so far, they've lost a lot of skill and speed from last year (sounds familiar doesn't it). they aren't scoring a lot of goals, so they're going to have to grind games out and win with goal tending and being physical.
dayton is always a bit of a dark horse. since they don't have an affiliate you never know what kind of talent they're going to have. tifu and beaudoin are gone, but they've added some youngsters that seem to know how to find the back of the net. goaltending could be an issue for them as well. we've already seen them lose brown to europe and shantz to a call up. their play thus far has been a bit inconsistent.
elmira got faster over the summer, but i don't think they got that much better. they don't seem to be as overtly physical, but we haven't seen them at home yet, so my opinion here could change on friday. it seems like they have even fewer skilled guys than in the past so they're another team that i think is going to struggle scoring goals.
that leave trenton and since i haven't seen them play yet i'll base my thoughts on their record. they just aren't very good. but i guess we'll see how we stack up in december.
based on what i've observed to this point, here's how i see the division standings (i'll reassess in a month or two to see how things have changed):
1 wheeling - they just haven't shown many weeknesses
2 j-town - greatly improved. solid goal tending.
3 cincinnati - i'm going to be a homer. i trust that chuck is going to get these guys playing together and limiting their mistakes
4 elmira - another homer pick. i do think elmira will be consistent enough to slide in but more than that, dayton and reading have had our number in the playoffs, so i'd rather see elmira
5. dayton - dayton barely got in last year and i don't see this years dayton team being any better, i don't see any reason to bump them up at this point.
6. reading - trouble scoring goal. less skill, less speed...enough said
7. trenton - based on the record they're just plain bad.
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"PBR can do that to you....1,2,3,12 beers and you're f**ked"
-oscar
"and i don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" - joan jett
"beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - benjamin franklin
"is that a pulled pork sandwich i smell?"
"some things are just better without pants...."
www.cycwords.wordpress.com |
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Racer20
(Rookie)
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2008 : 8:20:17 PM
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| great thougths Elvis |
Cyclones Rule!!!!! |
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HOCKEYgod
(The Next Level!)
207 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2008 : 8:40:15 PM
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Reading was with the LA-KINGS last season, and is with TORONTO now.
GOOD thoughts there ELVIS |
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elvis77
(Loves To Post!)
1435 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2008 : 9:18:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by HOCKEYgod
Reading was with the LA-KINGS last season, and is with TORONTO now.
GOOD thoughts there ELVIS
thanks for that info...i knew they had changed to toronto, but couldn't remember who they were with last year. thanks again |
"PBR can do that to you....1,2,3,12 beers and you're f**ked"
-oscar
"and i don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" - joan jett
"beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - benjamin franklin
"is that a pulled pork sandwich i smell?"
"some things are just better without pants...."
www.cycwords.wordpress.com |
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tamg4393
(The Next Level!)
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2008 : 5:29:12 PM
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| Agreed. |
2008 Kelly cup champs, the best Cyclones team ever! |
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Lisa_19_78
(The Next Level!)
USA
230 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2008 : 4:44:00 PM
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Loved this Elvis...
Can't wait to see how it pans out and how close you are! |
What you do today can change the course of your life far into the future. Today is critical. Today really counts. |
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hrc666
(Loves To Post!)
1363 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2008 : 11:10:53 PM
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Ah, the ECHL. Each season is definitely a NEW season.
Wheeling has improved dramatically. Obviously. Puhalski has been a very good AA coach for a long time and having had the summer to recruit, this is his team. And apparently a good one at that.
Johnstown was a very solid team in the second half of last season. They have plenty of returning players. I'm still a bit surprised to see that they are playing as well as they have.
Dayton is the shocker to me. I just couldn't see their roster having enough offensive output to be competitive. I'm very wrong so far. I thought they'd be in the 2.5 range in goals scored per game. They are currently at almost 3.5. MacDonald had a long and distinguished CHL coaching career. Now the Don MacAdam is gone, he has full control of the roster. He has managed to put together a very good defensive squad and had enough offense to produce a very good start. And probably on a shoe string budget to boot.
Elmira doesn't seem like a Steve Marinson coached team to me. They are hardly fighting at all. In the game I saw them play here, they barely checked. Very odd.
Reading looked pretty poor when I saw them play here-we beat them 7-3. And any team which has Matt Herneisen as its captain should be all rights be awful.
Trenton has Ricky Kowalski as their coach. Why he was brought back after last season is beyond me. Haven't seen them play, but their record probably says it all.
This goaltending is killing us right now. We have enough offense to be at the top of the league, but giving up 19 goals in the 3 loss road trip makes that irrelevant.
Locasse was brilliant in the game in which he was injured. I've yet to see Gajewski play any better than mediocre. He's usually awful. Until, Locasse gets back or until Weber signs another goalie, I'm afraid it's going to be more famine than feast for us.
Awful goaltending is an unsurmountable obstacle. Chuck knows that. He probably can't do much about it. Yet.
If Gajewski is our #1 and nothing about his play changes, we'll be outside the playoffs this season. If Locasse is adequate, then we'll be in the mix and come playoff time, who knows? |
"The only way David Desharnais will see an NHL game is if he buys a ticket".
--donnie hockey
"David Desharnais will be invisible during 5 on 5 hockey. IN THE AHL"
--donnie hockey
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Ih8thecyclones
(The Next Level!)
227 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2008 : 07:22:03 AM
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Keep up your predictions elvis77 we like being under estimated.
And Paul Drew ended three streaks this weekend.
1.) Wheeling suffered its first loss in regulartion
2.) Broke Johnstowns goalies winning streak (7 games I beleive)
3.) Broke Johnstowns winning streak.
*I am not saying we are going to win the division or the cup I am just saying it to be saying it. |
Edited by - Ih8thecyclones on 11/17/2008 07:23:34 AM |
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HOCKEYgod
(The Next Level!)
207 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2008 : 10:20:31 AM
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I don't think that the Cyclones have the defense to hang in the playoff hunt at this point. IF, they don't come up with some sort of answers soon, the playoffs are going to be out of reach.
There are very few games that can be won giving up 4+ goals. JUICE has a 4.19 GAA. I know he's a rookie but, if the defense doesn't tighten up around him, that GAA is going to go up. He's 31 out of 33 on the stats page. :( I'm not saying I'm ready to give up on him, I just think he needs to work on that all important REBOUND CONTROL and the defense needs to reduce the number of shots that get through. |
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elvis77
(Loves To Post!)
1435 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2008 : 3:05:00 PM
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i feel the need to point out that this was based on early season observations and will no doubt be amended. in fact since writing it some things have already shaked out....
ih8...i'm looking to start an argument here, but i want to clarify my observations. most importantly, dayton is definitely a dark horse team, meaning it is really hard to say what kind of team you guys are going to show up with night in and night out. the last strong team dayton had was the kelly cup final team of 2 years ago. granted this is based on only 1 seasons worth of history, but since losing the affiliation with columbus, dayton hasn't exactly been tearing it up. in defense of dayton's lack of affiliation, while the keely cup final team of 2 years ago got some help late from syracuse the team was really lead by tifu, berhoel and a couple others who weren't involved in the columbus affiliation.
the key observation is that wheeling and j-town have really set them aside as tops in the division, while, reading, elmira, dayton and cincinnati have all been been somewhat inconsistent. at this point, it's hard to say which 2 teams could take the final 2 playoff spots as they all seem to be fairly equal. the only team that looks down and out is trenton.
hockeygod....at this point i couldn't agree more. when i wrote this the guys looked like they were getting it together. the defense was starting to some around and we had worked our way back to .500. since then we've regressed and there are a lot of unanswered questions. however, i will have to disagree with the playoffs being out of reach soon. there are still a lot of games left. luckily the vast majority of our games are within the division, so as long as we can hover around .400 through the mid point in the season the playoffs will be within reach. just look at last season...j-town looked out of it at midseason but turned it on late and made it. with a division heavy schedule anything is possible. but yes...kyle needs to eat his wheaties and man up and the defense needs to do the same. until those things happen we're on the bubble looking in.
keep an eye out...i'll be updating my observations in mid to late december... |
"PBR can do that to you....1,2,3,12 beers and you're f**ked"
-oscar
"and i don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" - joan jett
"beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - benjamin franklin
"is that a pulled pork sandwich i smell?"
"some things are just better without pants...."
www.cycwords.wordpress.com |
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Ih8thecyclones
(The Next Level!)
227 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2008 : 4:47:41 PM
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Ya I will admit not having an affiliation sucks, but look at where we are at. Only 3 other teams in the entire ECHL have more points than us. Last year I was crying about not having an affiliate, but this year not so bad. http://echl.leaguestat.com/stats/statdisplay.php?type=standings
We maybe a dark horse, but as long as we keep these group of guys we have now on the roster then I think we will be much better than last years team.
*Disclaimer at no point did I say we are going to win the cup or division* |
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