ECHL ECHL

Bombers, Cyclones Make Move In North

Published on January 2, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


The race in the North Division tightened up over the holidays and only two points separate the top six teams including a three-way tie for first between Dayton, Cincinnati and Reading with 32 points each. Toledo and Johnstown are tied for fourth with 31 points while Trenton is in sixth with 30 points.

Dayton has gone 10-2-1 in its last 13 games to improve to 15-7-2 and a division-leading .667 winning percentage. The Bombers play at Wheeling (12-16-2) on Friday before hosting Wheeling on Saturday and Trenton on Sunday. Dayton is 2-0-0 against Wheeling and 3-1-0 against Trenton.

Cincinnati, which is 6-2-1 in its last nine games and 15-12-2 overall, hosts Reading on Friday and Saturday before traveling to Toledo (15-13-1) on Sunday. The Cyclones are 1-1-0 against Reading and 3-3-0 against Toledo, including an 0-3-0 record on the road. Toledo will host Trenton (14-10-2) on Friday and Saturday. The Storm is 1-0-1 against Trenton.

After visiting Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday, Reading (14-14-4) will play at Wheeling on Sunday. The Royals are 1-1-0 at Wheeling and 2-4-0 overall against the Nailers and 1-1-0 against Cincinnati with both games played at Reading.

Johnstown (14-13-3) plays outside the division when it visits Gwinnett on Friday, Augusta on Saturday and South Carolina on Sunday.



Falcons Win Record Seven In A Row

Fresno returned from the holiday break with a vengeance and posted four wins in five days, including three wins against Stockton. The Falcons extended their winning streak to a team record seven games and their road winning streak to a team record four games while improving to 19-9-1 and moving into second place in the West Division.

The Falcons won five games in a row twice with the most recent being Mar. 25-Apr. 1, 2006 while they won three straight road games five times with the most recent being Feb. 8-12, 2006.

Fresno will host Victoria on Friday and Sunday and plays at Long Beach on Saturday. The Falcons are 1-0-0 at home and 2-2-0 overall against Victoria and are 2-0-0 on the road and 3-0-0 overall against Long Beach.

During the streak, rookie goaltender Ryan MacDonald is 5-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.60 and a save percentage of .948 while Dmitri Patzold is 2-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.50 and a save percentage of .941. MacDonald is 7-0-1 with a goals-against average of 1.74 and a save percentage of .947 in his last eight starts. He is 10-3-1 and is second in the league with a save percentage of .928 and is sixth with a goals-against average of 2.45.

Luke Curtin leads the Falcons during the streak with 12 assists and 14 points while extending his point streak to nine games (2g-14a). Curtin is third in the league with 18 power-play assists and tied for third with 29 assists while his 35 points and two shorthand goals in 23 games tie him for eighth. Fresno rookie Brady Leisenring has eight points (3g-5a) during the winning streak while Brett Hammond has five points (1g-4a) since returning to Falcons on Dec. 27.



Lynx Tie League Record With Four Shorthand Goals

Augusta scored four shorthand goals in its 5-2 win against Charlotte on Dec. 31, tying the ECHL record for shorthand goals in a game since 1992-93.

Richmond scored four goals on Feb. 22, 1997 and repeated the feat on Dec. 6, 1998 while Johnstown accomplished it on Jan. 7, 2001.

Trailing 2-0 in the second period, the Lynx scored their shorthand goals in succession and all while down one man. Louis Goulet scored an unassisted shorthand goal at 5:01 of the second and added his second shorthand goal at 17:39, assisted by Ryan Lang and Nick Kuiper. Dirk Southern scored the second shorthand goal at 13:43, assisted by Lang, and Mike Erickson scored the fourth and final shorthand goal unassisted at 18:30.

Goulet is the second player this season to score two shorthand goals in a game with the other being Charlotte's Mark Lee, who ironically accomplished the feat in a 6-3 win against Augusta on Dec. 2.

Goulet has three shorthand goals tying him for fourth in the league with T.J. Trevelyan of Long Beach, Dustin Johner of Florida and Brandin Cote of Texas. Greg Hogeboom of Reading leads the ECHL with five shorthand goals while Wes Goldie of Victoria and Brent McDonald of Florida are tied for second with four shorthand goals each.

The shorthand outburst doubled the Lynx's shorthand goal production for the season and allowed them to climb from tied for 15th in the league into a tie for third with Gwinnett, Reading and South Carolina. Fresno leads the league with 13 shorthand goals while Florida is second with nine.



Chiefs Sell Out New Year's Eve For 17th Time

Drawing its largest crowd of the season with 9,363 on Saturday against Fresno, Stockton raised its average attendance to 6,682 per game which is up 5.3 percent from a year ago when the Thunder led the league with 6,343 per game.

Johnstown had a standing-room-only crowd of 4,136 at the 3,880-seat Cambria County War Memorial for its annual New Year's Eve game, marking the 17th time in 18 years that the game has been a sellout.

More than 12,000 attended two games in Charlotte and more than 15,000 passed through the gates in Reading over the weekend helping the league raise its average attendance to 3,996 per game and its total attendance to 1,462,456.

Utah had its largest crowd of the season with 5,416 on Saturday raising the Grizzlies attendance to 4,343 per game which is up 13 percent from a year ago, the second-largest gain among returning teams.

Dayton has seen its average attendance increase 16.6 percent from a year ago to 4,030 per game, including a near-capacity crowd of 3,651 at Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio on Thursday and the second-largest crowd of the season at the Nutter Center with 4,607 on Saturday.

Fresno had its seventh crowd in excess of 5,000 on Friday to raise its average to 4,594 per game which is up 2.9 percent from a year ago.

Bakersfield is second in total attendance with 88,086 and third in average attendance with 5,872 per game. The Condors are trying to raise average attendance for the fourth year in a row and are up 4.8 percent from last season and more than 30 percent from 2003-04 when they joined as an expansion team.

Gwinnett is fourth in average attendance with 5,692 per game, an increase of 3.0 percent from a year ago, while Alaska is sixth with 5,039 per game, up 3.2 percent from last season.

The league has raised average attendance each of the last three years, including 2005-06 when it had its largest per-game average since 1999-2000 with 4,372 per game as 13 of 22 returning teams raised attendance.

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The following appeared in "Letters to the Editor" in the Dec. 7 edition of The Toledo Blade.

I write to express my pride and appreciation for the players of the Toledo Storm hockey team. I am a single mother of a 4-year-old son who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He is an amazing child who tries every day to push himself beyond his physical limits. He wanted to skate with the Storm after their Nov. 19 game. I purchased him a pair of used hockey skates and allowed him to face another challenge in his life.

We slowly approached the ice and he held on for dear life. We were skating around the outside of the rink when one of the players came up beside us. The player, Chris Blight, swiped my son right off his feet and carried him around the rink. My son was grinning from ear to ear in pure happiness.

For Chris it was a simple gesture, but for my son it was a priceless moment he will remember forever. Chris touched his heart that day. Chris has a little fan who tells everyone about his kindness. My son tells everyone that, "Chris was a good teammate to me because I could not skate well because of my legs." He also tells people he skated on the ice because Chris Blight helped him learn how.

I am proud to be a fan of the Toledo Storm and I think others need to know about the quality players who represent our city when they are off the ice and on the ice winning games. I look forward to more games this season, especially because there are role models with good character hiding under the helmets and pads. Chris' sincerity and thoughtfulness when lending a helping hand (and feet) to a child with special needs, who was struggling to accomplish his goal, was special.

Allesha Jeffries

Waterville, Ohio

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ECHL Stories from January 2, 2007


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