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jevers
Administrator
USA
1367 Posts |
 Posted - 04/26/2010 : 11:36:58 AM
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CYCLONES CONTINUE FIGHT WITH CHARLOTTE
Cincinnati Hits Road Looking To Move To Conference Finals For Third Straight Year
COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, hit the road for North Carolina and a 7pm game at the Time Warner Cable Arena against Charlotte on Tuesday night (April 27). That will be game six of the best of seven American Conference Semifinals series. Cincinnati currently leads the series, three games to two. Should a seventh game be needed--it would be played on Wednesday night (April 28) at 7pm. Both of these games will be carried on ESPN 1530, as well as the club's website at www.cycloneshockey.com.
LOOKING TO JOIN THE CLUB: Only two teams in ECHL history have advanced to the league's semifinals (which through time has now become the Conference Finals) in three straight seasons. Greensboro (1989-90-91) was the first to accomplish this and Alaska (2004-05-06) was the other. Should the Cyclones (2008-09) win the series against Charlotte, they would be the third member of this club.
ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones rallied for a 2-1 win over Charlotte. Dustin Sproat's third goal of the postseason coming on a delayed penalty call late in the second period was the difference. Jeremy Smith stopped 32 shots in the win. Hans Benson's goal in the final minute of the first period knotted the scores at one each.
ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones dropped a 4-1 decision to Charlotte. Brett Robinson netted the lone score, a shorthanded penalty shot. Jeremy Smith stopped 27 shots in the loss.
ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones exploded for a club playoff record nine goals in a 9-5 win over Charlotte. Cincinnati got three power play goals and two shorthanded efforts to secure the triumph. Jimmy Kilpatrick and Maxime Lacroix each had three point nights, while Mathieu Aubin, Barret Ehgoetz, Brett Motherwell and Brian O'Hanley each had two point nights. Jeremy Smith redirected a career playoff-high 37 shots in the triumph.
COMEBACK KIDS: The Cyclones won their fifth comeback game of the Kelly Cup playoffs Saturday night. The club erased a one-goal deficit in the opening game of the South Carolina series and battled back from a 2-1 hole late in the third period of game five. The Cyclones trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in the game one against Charlotte. Bounced back from a 3-2 hole in the second period to grab a 9-5 win in game three and rallied from a 1-0 first period shortfall to win 2-1 in game five.
DIRECTOR OF COMEBACKS: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has guided the club to five come-from-behind wins in these Kelly Cup playoffs and 15 in his four seasons at the helm. In the four regular seasons under Weber's direction, Cincinnati has recorded 64 regular season comeback wins.
WEBER MOVES UP: With the win on Saturday night, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber moved into sixth place on the ECHL career playoff wins list with 36. Weber is tied with Gwinnett mentor Jeff Pyle for most wins among active coaches. The win also moved him into a tie with Mike Haviland (36) for most victories by a coach in his first four playoff campaigns. No coach in ECHL history has won 37 playoff games in a four season window.
GET SHORTY: With three shorthanded goals in the last three games, the Cyclones lead the Kelly Cup playoffs with four man-disadvantage goals. Maxime Lacroix and Brett Robinson now hold the club's career shorthanded goals record with two apiece. Cincinnati led the ECHL during the regular season with 16 shorthanded goals.
RED LIGHT DISTRICT: The nine goals scored by the Cyclones Wednesday are the most-ever scored by the team in a Kelly Cup postseason game. Last year, the club set the team playoff record with eight goals in an 8-3 win versus Elmira in game one of the North Division Finals (April 24, 2009). The last time an ECHL team scored ten goals in a game was on April 28, 1997 when Peoria lit the scoreboard up for double digits against Louisiana. Dayton holds the ECHL record for goals in a playoff game with eleven. Only six times in ECHL playoff history has a team put nine goals or more on the scoreboard.
(ALMOST) EVERYBODY SCORES: The Cyclones set a team playoff record by having fifteen of the 16 skaters in uniform collect a point in Wednesday's win. Eight different players had goals and eleven different players had at least an assist.
RECORD BREAKING NIGHT: A total of 24 Cyclones playoff records were tied or broken during the 9-5 win over Charlotte on Wednesday night.
THAT IS ODD: The Cyclones are perfect in all the odd numbered playoff games (games one, three and five) this season, posting a 6-0 record. However, the club is winless in the even numbered playoff games (two and four)--turning in a 0-3-1 slate.
SECOND HALF DEFENSE: From the ten minute mark of the second period on (second half of the hockey game), the Cyclones have played 339:13--including overtime during the postseason. The club has permitted just eight goals during this timeframe and have a 0.71 goals against average in the second half of games. The Checkers collected three Friday night. South Carolina scored twice in game two (including the overtime marker), Charlotte netted a pair in game two and had another in game three.
WE'RE ONLY AT HOME ON THE ROAD...: Under Head Coach Chuck Weber, the Cyclones are 19-7-2 (.714 winning percentage) in playoff games away from U.S. Bank Arena. The club is 15-5-2 (.727) away from home since the start of the 2007-08 Kelly Cup playoffs. Cincinnati is one of three teams in the 2010 Kelly Cup playoffs with three road triumphs (no one has reached four yet). The Cyclones are 3-1-1 in postseason playoff action this season.
THIRD PERIOD IS GOOD: The Cyclones have outscored opponents, 9-5, in the third period of games in the playoffs. The three goals allowed are the third-fewest permitted (Idaho has allowed three--and the eliminated South Carolina Stingrays also surrendered three). During the regular season, Cincinnati gave up 61 third period goals--the fewest by any team in the league.
NO, THE THIRD PERIOD IS GREAT!: Cincinnati turned in a 2-19 record when trailing after two periods in the regular season. The Cyclones are already 2-2 in the postseason trailing after a pair of frames. April 16 ended a stretch of 34 games between the regular season and playoffs for Charlotte of taking a second period lead into the third and not losing in regulation.
WAITING FOR A WINNER: Three of the four teams that will participate in the ECHL conference finals are set. The National Conference Finals will feature the Brabham Cup champion Idaho and third-seeded Stockton. In the American Conference, seventh seeded Reading has already advanced and will play the winner of this series.
SATURDAY NIGHT.....IS NOT ALWAYS KIND: The Cyclones won on Saturday night for the first time in five weeks. Previously, the last triumph on the sixth day of the week came on March 13 in a 3-2 overtime victory at Elmira. It was also the first triumph in five tries on a Saturday at U.S. Bank Arena--the last a 6-2 beatdown of Johnstown on February 13.
SLOW STARTERS: The Cyclones have surrendered 27 goals in ten games to the opposition in the Kelly Cup playoffs. Twelve of those scores have come during the first period.
LET'S SLOW THAT LAST NOTE EVEN MORE...: The Cyclones are one of three teams in the postseason that has not led after one period of play. Elmira and Victoria are the others and since they have been eliminated--will not have a chance to lead in a Kelly Cup playoff game after one frame.
WEBER GOOD IN BONUS TIME: Saturday night was the 57th playoff game of Chuck Weber's coaching career. The Cyclones are 36-19-2 (.632 winning percentage) in the playoffs under the fourth-year mentor and have a 6-2 record in games that go into overtime.
ATTENDANCE ITEMS: The Cyclones drew 3813 for the game on Saturday night, the tenth largest playoff crowd in team history. Cincinnati has climbed to tenth in the ECHL in average postseason attendance at 2301. Attendance in the postseason is at 59 percent of the regular season average of 3887. While no team in the playoffs has increased its attendance, only Idaho (99 percent), Bakersfield (89 percent), Victoria (75 percent), Stockton (74 percent), Utah (70 percent) and Florida (61 percent) have better percentages than the Cyclones.
QUICK HITTERS: Cyclones forward Mathieu Aubin moved into second place on the team's career playoff games played list with his 42 contest on Saturday night...Jeremy Smith ranks fourth in the ECHL in goals against average at 2.54...Smith leads the league in minutes played (538), shutouts (one) and is third in saves (288)...Brock Sheahan is sixth among defensemen is plus/minus at +6.
BRING YOUR RADIO: For the remainder of the Kelly Cup playoffs, fans are encouraged to bring their FM radios to U.S. Bank Arena. Tuning into 106.1 FM, fans are able to listen to the internet call of the game from inside the bowl area.
http://tinyurl.com/3yuuxq6
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