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jevers
Administrator
USA
1367 Posts |
 Posted - 03/22/2010 : 12:48:05 PM
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CYCLONES SECURE PLAYOFF BERTH
Cincinnati Hosts Pair of Division Leaders This Week
COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, return to U.S. Bank Arena for a pair of games this week before returning to the road. Tuesday (March 23), East Division leader Elmira comes to town for its only visit to Cincinnati of the regular season. It is a Big Beer Tuesday with 24 ounce cans of Molson, Molson Ice and Labatt's priced at two dollars each throughout the evening. Saturday night, North Division leader Kalamazoo rolls in for its final visit of the campaign. It is a Premium Beer Night, with 24 ounce Heineken Light priced at five dollars through the night. Sunday (March 28), the club makes its final trip ever to the historic Cambria County War Memorial to play Johnstown at 2pm.
CYCLONES CLINCH: With the Cyclones win over Johnstown on March 18, the club secured its fourth consecutive trip to the Kelly Cup playoffs. Cincinnati has advanced to the postseason in each of the four years Chuck Weber has directed the team and been to the last two American Conference Finals series (playing South Carolina each time).
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The Cyclones currently have 83 standings points, which presently ties the team with Charlotte for fourth place overall in the American Conference standings. With two weeks left, Cincinnati could still lock up the number one seed overall--or could be the eighth, and final team in the postseason. A Cyclones win or Reading loss would secure the seventh spot and keep the club from having to face the Conference champion in the opening round. The 'magic number' to getting past Toledo for the sixth spot is one point gained by Cincinnati, or lost by the Walleye. The 'magic number' to fifth place is nine against Florida and 14 versus South Carolina for fourth place and home ice advantage in the first round. To win the North Division title, the 'magic number' is 16 against Kalamazoo.
ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones dropped a 3-2 decision to Toledo, after the Walleye scored a pair of third period goals to capture the game. Brett Robinson and Scott Reynolds had the goals in the defeat that saw the Cyclones outshoot Toledo, 35-20, in the contest. The Walleye finished the season series with Cincinnati by winning eight of the eleven contests between the teams.
ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: Toledo raced to a 3-0 lead early in the third period and held on for a 3-1 win. Brock Sheahan had the lone goal for Cincinnati.
ABOUT THURSDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones used three goal efforts in the second and third periods to claim a 7-1 win over Johnstown. Jimmy Kilpatrick and Dustin Sproat each had a pair of goals in the games, while Jeremy Smith turned away 18 shots to collect his 20th win of the year.
ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones are averaging 3713 per game through the 33 contests at U.S. Bank Arena, which ranks 15th in the ECHL. The club has already drawn the second-largest (10,920 for Throwback Night on November 6) and fourth-largest (8944 for Education In Hockey Day on November 17) regular season crowds in team history. The crowd of 7175 on February 20 was the seventh-largest in team history and third biggest of the year. The club has attracted in excess of 6000 on eight dates. Attendance at Cyclones games is up 19.7 percent over last year's season average and is up 30.4 percent over the first 33 home games of a year ago--which is the second-biggest increase of any minor pro team in North America, Quad City is tops at an increase of 35.4 percent. The club has drawn 122,549 through the turnstiles this season.
MORE ATTENDANCE: The 122,549 attending Cyclones games this season are the most to watch hockey at U.S. Bank Arena since the 2002-03 campaign. That season, 131, 141 attended regular season games. With three games remaining at home, Cincinnati needs to average 2864 per game to hit the plateau. If the club can draw 10,934 (average of 3645 per game), the squad will surpass the season attendance mark of the 1997-98 Louisville Riverfrogs for third place on the club's single season list.
LAST WORD ON ATTENDANCE: Since January 29, the Cyclones have drawn 48,372 to games at U.S. Bank Arena. The 4,031 has brought the club to 15th in the ECHL in attendance--their highest standing within the league this late in the season since returning to action in 2006-07. Three Friday nights, three Saturdays and six weeknights comprise that stretch--which has had four attendances surpassing 6000 fans and another blowing past 7000. Weekday attendance has significantly helped the average this season. These games have averaged 2170 fans per game, up 89.2 percent over last years 1147 per game on weekdays.
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).
AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW...: The Cyclones are 13-6-2 (.667 winning percentage) since Febnary 1. The club has collected an American Conference-high 40 wins. It is the second-fastest in team history that the club has reached 40 victories. The 2008-09 Kelly Cup championship team won the 40th game on February 23 and notched the 41st win on February 28. While reaching the Cyclones club record 55 regular season wins is now impossible--the club can still achieve the second-most wins in team history, which is 41 set last year. The club passed the 1995-96 Louisville team for third-most in team history (39), Thursday night.
WINNERS AT HOME...: The Cyclones have won 21 games on home ice this season, tied for second-most by any team in the American Conference and fifth-most in the ECHL. Cincinnati is 9-2-2 in the last 13 contests at U.S. Bank Arena, dating back to Janaury 25.
THAT IS DEFENSE: The Cyclones suffered a 5-1 loss to Johnstown on January 25. Since that defeat, the club has posted a 9-2-2 record in games played at U.S. Bank Arena. While the record is impressive--the defensive effort is stellar. The team has limited the opposition to just 25 goals, which is a 1.90 goals against average. Of those 25 goals--more than half (13) have come via the power play. The Cyclones have limited the opposition to 297 shots (22.8 per game--down 14.5 percent from their season average of 26.1).
WINNERS ON THE ROAD TOO...: The Cyclones won their 19th away game of the season in the triumph at Elmira on Saturday. That gives Cincinnati the most road triumphs in the American Conference and second-most in the league (Idaho has 21). The Cyclones are 15-7 (.682 winning percentage) away from U.S. Bank Arena since Nov. 29.
ROAD WARRIORS: 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 67-34-4 record (.657 winning percentage). The squad is an away triumph shy of making it three consecutive seasons with 20 or more road wins in a campaign.
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.
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 a tie for third place on the wins list with 173 (with 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 this southern swing. Motherwell was loaned to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders on March 4 and Lacroix returned this week. This season, a total of sixteen Cyclones players have been promoted a total of 25 times. More than 190 games have been played by men who have represented Cincinnati this season at the AHL level. More than 220 man-games have been lost to the Cyclones as a result of these advancements.
COORS LIGHT COACHES SHOW: The Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show is held each Monday night at Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee from 7-8pm. This week, forward Mathieu Aubin and defenseman Reid Cashman will join Head Coach Chuck Weber and Nick Brunker at the show.
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