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jevers
Administrator
USA
1367 Posts |
 Posted - 11/23/2009 : 11:23:43 AM
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CYCLONES WELCOME BACK KALAMAZOO!
Cincinnati Hosts North Division Leaders For Pair This Week!
COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, play four games this week. Wednesday and Friday (Nov. 25, 27), the club welcomes the Kalamazoo Wings to U.S. Bank Arena for 7:30pm starts each night. Over the weekend, the club is at Wheeling on Saturday (Nov. 28 at 8:05pm) and Sunday (Nov. 29 at 6:35pm).
WELCOME BACK KALAMAZOO!: The Cyclones and Kalamazoo restore their rivalry in the Queen City with the first meeting of the cities in hockey in more than nine years. Both towns had entries in the old International Hockey League (IHL) from 1992-2000 together--forming a bitter rivalry as the squads were part of the North and East Divisions in the league. While this will officially be the third-ever meeting between the teams (the clubs met in Kalamazoo on Nov. 13-14), they are hardly strangers. Cincinnati had a 39-15-9 mark (.690 winning percentage) against the AAA affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The last meeting between the teams at the IHL level was a 4-0 triumph for the K-Wings at U.S. Bank Arena on March 26, 2000.
SEEING FAMILIAR FACES: Two former Cyclones players are currently with the North Division leading Kalamazoo Wings. Veteran forward Sam Ftorek was one of the assistant captains of Chuck Weber's inaugural team in 2006-07 and holds the team record for empty net goals in a game (two). Ryan Nie, one of the goaltenders from last season's playoff run, leads the ECHL in goals against average at 1.82. Head Coach Nick Bootland is one of the top ten scorers in Cyclones history.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS: Wednesday night is the 'Turkey Drop' playing off the spoof of the mythical radio station episode in the Queen City that was a hit CBS television show during the 1970s. It is also a 'Wet Wednesday' with Miller High Life and Pabst Blue Ribbon priced at a dollar per can all night long. Friday night is a 'Kids Eat Free' night (for children aged two to twelve), where patrons bringing a canned food item will receive a voucher for a kid's meal at the concession stand. Food collected will be donated to the Freestore Foodbank.
WEEK IN REWIND: The Cyclones posted a 2-2 record last week, splitting decisions against Trenton and Toledo during the week. Cincinnati begins the week with a 7-7-1 record and in third place in the North Division of the American Conference of the ECHL.
ABOUT TUESDAY...: The Cyclones grabbed a quick 1-0 lead and responded with another score less than a minute after Trenton tied the score in a 3-1 triumph. Matt Pierce had the opening goal (84 seconds in) and assisted on the game winner. Dustin Sproat and Scott Reynolds collected the others. Jeremy Smith stopped 16 shots for the win.
ABOUT WEDENESDAY...: The Cyclones utilized goals 35 seconds apart in the first period to build a 2-0 edge over Trenton, but watched it disappear with four unanswered Devils goals in a 4-2 defeat. Dustin Sproat and Mike McLean had the goals, but it was not enough.
ABOUT FRIDAY...: The Cyclones got a goal and a pair of assists from Ryan Del Monte in the 4-3 win. Bryan Leitch netted the game winning goal early in the third period and Jeremy Smith stopped 30 shots to collect his fifth win. The power play unit stepped forward, answering the bell three times in the triumph.
ABOUT SUNDAY...: The Cyclones did not trail until the final 92 seconds of the game and Toledo was able to parlay that into a 4-3 triumph over Cincinnati. Barret Ehgoetz lit the lamp twice (His fourth and fifth of the season) and the club registered two power play goals in the defeat.
TUESDAY'S EIHD CROWD: Tuesday morning (Nov. 17), 8944 were on hand for the annual 'Ohio Lottery presents Education In Hockey Day' event. The crowd was the biggest weekday crowd in team history and the biggest weekday attendance in the ECHL in at least ten seasons. The crowd, mostly students from more than 70 local schools in the three state region, were taught math, science, geography and physical education lessons from the 16 college educated players on the Cyclones roster. They were also treated to a 3-1 Cyclones win over Trenton. Following the game, the Cyclones led the ECHL in avaerage attendance at 6653.
MORE ATTENDANCE INFO: The Cyclones begin the week in fifth place in ECHL attendance at 5759 per game (just two fans per contest less than Ontario for fourth). Cincinnati's attendance is up 85.4 percent over a year ago. The club has attracted 28,795 through the turnstiles, which is more than the team brought in through the first twelve games of 2008-09. Of the 78 teams playing minor pro hockey in North America, the Cyclones are tenth on the list in average attendance behind four AHL, four ECHL and one IHL club.
DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN...: The Cyclones, who routinely have players leaving for the American Hockey League (AHL), have been very quiet on the transaction wire in the past week. Cincinnati has played with the same lineup for the past four games--the first time it has happened in the regular season since Jan. 9-17 of last season (five games). For those keeping score at home, the lineup then had goaltenders Ryan Nie and Kyle Gajewski. Defensemen Frederick St. Denis, Brian O'Hanley, Paul Lynch, T.J. McElroy, Tom Sawatske, Jamie Coghlan and Mike Salekin. Forwards Jimmy Kilpatrick, Barret Ehgoetz, Ben McLeod, Dustin Sproat, Mark Van Guilder, J.T. Wyman, Ben Gordon, Brandon Scero and Justin Johnson. Ironically, that club also dressed nine forwards and seven defensemen during this roster stretch. The longest stretch of games for the Cyclones during the Chuck Weber regime with the same lineup is six games set from Dec. 9-22, 2006.
STREAK MAY BE ENDING...: The Cyclones have received forward Hans Benson back from Portland (AHL). Benson was loaned to Portland on October 24 and has appeared in ten games with the Pirates, racking up 35 penalty minutes. Hans will be in Cincinnati prior to Wednesday's game.
WE'RE ONLY AT HOME WHEN WE ARE ON THE ROAD: The Cyclones have played ten road games in 2009-2010. Only Johnstown (eleven) has played more. Cincinnati has won 64 games between the regular season and playoffs since the start of the 2007-08 season--most of any team in the league.
WE DON'T DO OVERTIME MUCH...: The Cyclones became the last team in the American Conference to reach overtime this season. Cincinnati is tied with three other National Conference clubs for the fewest overtime games played this season (one).
...BUT WHEN WE DO THEY ARE CLASSICS!: The last time the Cyclones went into overtime (prior to November 13) was April 25 of last season, the second game of the best of seven series with Elmira in the North Division Finals. Trailing 4-1 with three and a half minutes to play in the second period, Mac Faulkner finished off his hat trick with a pair of goals to set up Dustin Sproat's power play goal with 2:08 to play to force an extra session. Jimmy Kilpatrick's goal 1:46 into the bonus time sent the Cyclones on to a four game sweep of the Jackals. Five days earlier (April 20), in game seven of the North Division Semifinals, Matt Syroczynski netted a score 3:48 into double overtime to advance the squad. The last time Cincinnati played a regular season overtime contest was April 3 of last season--a 4-3 win over Johnstown that kept the Chiefs out of the Kelly Cup playoffs.
PIERCE DELIVERS: Rookie forward Matt Pierce is second among all ECHL rookies with twelve goals (Dan Sexton of Bakersfield leads with 13). Pierce is also tied for the league lead in power play goals (six) and ranks fourth among first-year players in shooting percentage at 25 percent (twelve of 48).
SMITH SHOULDERING THE LOAD: Rookie goaltender Jeremy Smith ranks fifth among goaltenders and third in the rookie class with a 2.60 goals against average. Smith has a 5-4-1 record and has already delivered a shutout. Since November 13 (and the last showdown between the Cyclones and Wings), Jeremy has a 2-1-1 record with a 2.46 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.
NO GOAL PATROL: The Cyclones penalty killing unit is the best in the ECHL, having eliminated 88.4 percent of the situations faced. Cincinnati has stopped 61 of the 69 man-disadvantage situations faced. The group has been even more impressive by having the second-most shorthanded goals in the league (five) thus far. Gwinnett has allowed the second-fewest power play goals (eleven) in the ECHL.
COACHES SHOW: The Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show originates each Monday night from Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. Head Coach Chuck Weber joins Nick Brunker each week from 7-8pm. This week forwards Ryan Del Monte and Brett Robinson are the guests.
HOMER CARRIES THE GAMES: The broadcast of each and every one of the 72 regular season Cyclones games can be found on the club's website at: www.cycloneshockey.com. Up to 17 selected Friday night games can be heard on 1530-AM Homer 'The Sports Animal' with a special half hour pregame show prior to each broadcast. The next game on the 50,000 watt juggernaut will occur on Friday, November 27 with a 7pm faceoff vs. Kalamazoo.
http://tinyurl.com/ya5hmz3
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BP2011
(Been Here Awhile)
USA
531 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2009 : 11:26:48 AM
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| Glad that Hans is back because we need a little physical play against the K Wings |
08, 10 Kelly Cup Champions
08, 10, 14 American Conference Champions
08, 09, 13 North Division Champions
08 Brabham Cup Champions |
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justmom
(The Next Level!)
335 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2009 : 11:29:35 AM
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| No doubt! It will be good just to have him on the ice. |
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Primis
(Finally Got A Star!)
USA
56 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2009 : 4:51:13 PM
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You guys are catching the K-Wings at a good time. Our entire top forward line from the start of the season is gone to the AHL right now, as are 2 other forwards and 1 d-man we started with. Curadeau was recalled back from Worcester last night and then promptly signed to a PTO with Hamilton (tell your parent club to stop stealing our players!). Nie was also placed on IR, but only 3-day. My guess would be that you'll see Nie once and Duchesne once in net, then they'll activate Ellis for the weekend games. We're a different-looking team without Curadeau or Cleaver though, for sure. That's a lot of scoring load on Ftorek and Daavettila (who himself may be getting a call-up soon enough at this rate).
Unfortunately I don't think many will be making the trip to Cincy. a Wed & Fri road set isn't very conducive to roadtrips when we're turnign around and hosting Florida then on Sat and Sun. Most will probably just catch the two games against the Everblades instead, since we've never seen them before. |
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