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ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cincinnati Cyclones Review

May 7, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones (37-29-4-2) had their 2006-07 season come to an end on Thursday night (May 3) in a 5-3 loss in the seventh game of the North Division Finals against the Dayton Bombers. The defeat prevented the Cyclones from advancing to the American Conference Finals for only the second time in club history.

WHAT A SEASON!: The 37 wins were the second-most in the history of the club and the eleven game home unbeaten streak (9-0-2) from November 18 through January 6 established a team-best. From December 12 through January 5, the Cyclones won six straight at U.S. Bank Arena.

MORE SEASON NEWS: The Cyclones finished third in the North Division in the regular season and battled Toledo in the North Division semifinals. Cincinnati emerged from that series with a three game sweep in the best-of-five event, including a pair of triumphs at the Toledo Sports Arena. The series win by the Cyclones marked the first time since the 2005 Kelly Cup finals that an underdog claimed a series win in the ECHL. Cincinnati advanced to the North Division Finals, losing in seven games to Dayton.

CAN'T WAIT TO RENEW THAT SUBSCRIPTION!: The Cyclones were selected by The Hockey News to finish 24th out of the 25 teams in the ECHL in a preseason poll (Phoenix was picked 25th). Cincinnati responded by sitting in first place in the North Division for three months (December 23 through March 23) and it took Dayton seven game sin the division finals to eliminate them.

REARRANGING THE RECORD BOOK: The Cyclones made some changes to the club's record book due to the 2006-07 club. Captain Chad Starling finished the regular season with a team record +23 plus/minus rating. Cincinnati native Jason Deitsch pumped in 71 points during the year, fourth-most in team history. Deitsch also collected 26 goals, the ninth-most in history. Right wing Jean-Michel Daoust netted 32 goals, fourth-most in a single season and registered the tenth most points (62) in a season. Daoust's 13 power play goals were fifth-most in team history. Rookie Cedrick Desjardins registered four shutouts, most among ECHL first-year players, second-most in team history. Cedrick's 24 wins were also the second-most in a single season in club history.

DEFENSE: The Cyclones yielded just 198 goals during the season, the fewest in team history. The 2001-02 club was also a defensive-minded bunch, but surrendered 207 goals. Cincinnati ranked sixth in the ECHL in goals against average for the season at 2.75.

NO, WE WON'T BACK DOWN: The Cyclones were involved in 71 fights during the 2006-07 season, third-most in the ECHL. Only Reading (85) and Utah (75) had more. In the record book, that is the fourth-most in club history and the most of any team since the club moved to Cincinnati for the 2001-02 season (the 2003-04 team had 68). Jimmy Bonneau was involved in 14 altercations, while Avery Wilson stepped in eleven times and Greg Stewart stepped up ten times. Twenty times during the season there were multiple fights in a game (seven of those were at U.S. Bank Arena).

HATS OFF TO YOU...: The Cyclones had a pair of hat tricks turned in during the season (three goals in a game). The first came on Feb. 17, when Jean-Michel Daoust collected his in a 7-4 win at Johnstown. That came the night after Daoust nailed down a two-goal night--including the game winner with 9.1 seconds remaining in overtime, a 5-4 verdict over Johnstown. The other hat trick came on April 3, when Mike Wirll provided all the offense in a 3-2 win at Columbia. Wirll's goals all came in the first ten minutes of the game against the Inferno.

OWNING THE NORTH: The Cyclones had a winning record against four of the other six teams in the North Division. They were within one game of .500 against the other two. Cincinnati was 7-4-1 against North Division champion Dayton, 6-2-2 versus Johnstown and 6-4 against Toledo. The squad was also 5-3-2 against Reading. The Cyclones were 4-5-1 against Trenton and 5-6 versus Wheeling. In all, Cincinnati had a 33-24-6 mark (.571 winning percentage), inside the division.

COMEBACKS: The Cyclones had 13 come from behind wins during the regular season. Seven of those came at U.S. Bank Arena, with perhaps the most memorable coming on Nov. 25--in a 3-2 win versus Dayton. Trailing the Bombers, 2-1 at the start of the third period, Jason Deitsch knotted the game up at 7:51 of the final frame. Barret Ehgoetz netted the game winner with 1:08 to play for the victory. Dayton was also part of the biggest comeback of the year on Dec. 28. Racing to a 2-0 first period lead at Hobart Arena, the Cyclones stormed back with three goals from Deitsch, Cory Urquhart and Rory Rawlyk to force a shootout. Urquhart buried the lone score of the extra session for a 4-3 shootout win.

MILESTONES: Right wing Sam Ftorek played in his 500th game as a pro on Dec. 6, collecting an assist and a fight in a 3-2 win at Reading...Left wing Travis Lisabeth netted the playoff berth-clinching goal at Wheeling on March 31...Right wing Mike Wirll led the ECHL in goal scoring with 47.

CEDRICK THE SENSATIONAL: Cyclones goaltender Cedrick Desjardins picked up 24 wins and was named the to the ECHL's All-Rookie Team. Desjardins also represented Cincinnati at the Rbk ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 17, stopping all nine shots he faced in the game (the only goaltender in the All-Star Game NOT to allow a goal) and was the winning goaltender in the contest. Cedrick also had a stretch from October 21 through November 6, where he went 145:31 without allowing a goal at U.S. Bank Arena.

WEBER TOP ROOKIE: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber assembled the best winning percentage of any rookie coach in the ECHL. Weber directed Cincinnati to a 37-29-4-2 record (.556 winning percentage). That was .021 percent and one win more than Rick Kowalsky, the Trenton coach. Weber was the runner-up for the ECHL's Coach of the Year award that was won by Davis Payne of Alaska.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES...: The Cincinnati Cyclones had ten players recalled to the American Hockey League (AHL) during the course of this season. Cincinnati lost a total of 233 man-games due to recall, the equivalent of losing nearly three players for the entire season.

MORE CH-CH-CH-CHANGES...: Due to the call-ups and injuries that have occurred this season, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber used 47 different lineups over the 82 regular season and playoff games. The most popular of these lineups only played together a total of eight times. Ironically, the group that played the first eight playoff games for Cincinnati was the most popular lineup. It has been in place for all of the previous postseason games.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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