Bison Fall to Cyclones
ECHL Bloomington Bison

Bison Fall to Cyclones

Published on January 23, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Bloomington Bison News Release


Bloomington, Ill. - Shane Ott scored his sixth goal of the season and the penalty kill was perfect but the Bloomington Bison fell 5-1 to the Cincinnati Cyclones at Grossinger Motor Arena on Friday evening.

The Bison got strong goaltending from Dryden McKay early and made a post-to-post save less than two minutes into the game. Bloomington earned a powerplay five minutes into the contest and created numerous chances. Ilya Tsulygin came inches away from getting the Bison on the board, but sent the puck wide of an open cage. Soon after returning to even strength, two skaters in front of the net were tabbed with penalties and brought up four-on-four play. Cincinnati struck first and broke McKay's shutout streak, which had been strong for over seven periods of play. McKay made a point-blank save in the final three minutes and stopped 12 of 13 shots in the first period but the home squad headed into the intermission down 1-0.

Physical play intensified in the second frame and the Bison tried to gain momentum from it. Despite the attempts, Cincinnati scored 81 seconds in to double its lead. Two minutes later, the Bison were called for another penalty and successfully completed the kill, but the Cyclones scored again game six minutes into the middle stanza. Ott broke through finishing a two-on-one feed from Eddie Matsushima and Matt Hubbarde at 14:13 to register what would stand as the only Bison goal of the game. Physicality continued and in the final ten seconds, Brenden Datema dropped the gloves.

Despite earning the favor of a home crowd with the fight, the Bison were unable to light the lamp in the final period. Cincinnati took advantage of defensive miscues and potted two goals in eight seconds to take a 5-1 lead. After a late, shortened powerplay chance, Bloomington finished the night 0/5 on the man-advantage.

Join the Bison in celebrating the centennial of the Mother Road on Ag & Route 66 Night presented by Evergreen FS, and bid on game-worn specialty Route 66-themed jerseys in a post-game auction on the ice on Saturday, January 24 against the Indy Fuel.

Check out the Bloomington Bison Statistics

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ECHL Stories from January 23, 2026


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