ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cincinnati Cyclones Weekly News

March 19, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones (34-23-3-2) play three games this week, as they continue to lead the North Division of the American Conference of the ECHL. Cincinnati, which holds a five point lead over both Dayton and Toledo for the division lead, has three games this week. The Cyclones host Wheeling on Tuesday night (March 20) in a 7:30pm tilt at U.S. Bank Arena. It will be team's fifth game in seven days. During the weekend (March 24-25), the squad makes its final trip of the regular season to Trenton.

MAGIC NUMBER: The Cyclones, currently the leaders of the North Division, have a 'magic number' of eight to make the Kelly Cup playoffs. Every Cincinnati win reduces the number by two, every shootout or overtime loss reduces it by one. Reading and Johnstown are tied for the sixth-most possible points (80). Every time the team in sixth place loses a game--Cincinnati's number reduces by two and each time that team has a shootout loss that number reduces by one. As it gets closer to the playoffs different teams could move into that sixth position. Mathematically, the earliest the Cyclones could clinch a berth in the Kelly Cup playoffs would be Saturday (March 24), depending on scenarios involving wins and losses.

THE PLAYOFF SKINNY: The top five teams in the North Division will qualify for the Kelly Cup playoffs. The top three teams will receive first round byes, while the fourth and fifth seeds will play a best-of-three series starting no earlier than April 9. The winner of that series will meet the number one seed, while the second and third seeds battles in a best-of-five series beginning no earlier than April 13. The winner of those two series collide in the Divisional Finals in a best-of-seven series. The Division champion advances to the American Conference finals and meets the South Division winner in a best-of-seven. The winner of that runs into the National Conference champion in a best-of-seven for the Kelly Cup.

WEBER ASSEMBLING SOLID ROOKIE SEASON: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has assembled the best winning percentage of any rookie coach in the ECHL. Weber has directed Cincinnati to a 34-23-3-2 record (.590 winning percentage). That is .050 percent and three wins more than Rick Kowalsky, the Trenton coach.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES...: The Cincinnati Cyclones have had nine players recalled to the American Hockey League (AHL) during the course of this season. Cincinnati has lost a total of 182 man-games due to recall, the equivalent of losing two and a half players for the entire season. At this moment, six players are in the AHL, Jimmy Bonneau, Jon Gleed and Cory Urquhart are with Hamilton, Nick Martens is with Bridgeport, Rory Rawlyk is with Binghamton and Dov Grumet-Morris is with Manitoba.

MORE CH-CH-CH-CHANGES...: Due to the call-ups and injuries that have occurred this season, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has used 36 different lineups over the 62 games thus far. The most popular of these lineups has only played together a total of six times.

ABOUT LAST WEEK...: Cincinnati posted a 2-1-1 record over the four games last week to maintain the North Division lead. Wednesday night (March 14), the Cyclones battled Reading and came away on the short end of a 4-3 score in overtime. Mike Wirll netted a goal and an assist in the overtime loss. Friday (March 16), Cincinnati claimed a 4-1 win over Trenton. Mathieu Aubin, Jason Deitsch and Scott Reynolds each chipped in with a goal and an assist, while Conrad Martin handed out a pair of assists. Cedrick Desjardins stopped 36 shots. Saturday (March 17), wearing their specially designed St. Patrick's Day jerseys, the Cyclones dropped a 3-2 verdict to Trenton. After spotting the Titans a 3-0 first period lead, Cincinnati rallied to within one midway through the third period. Barett Ehgoetz and Jason Goulet tallied the scores for the Cyclones. Sunday (March 18), a pair of goals in the first two and a half minutes propelled the Cyclones to a 3-2 win at Dayton. Aubin, Deitsch and Jean-Michel Daoust each collected a goal and an assist in the triumph. Desjardins was solid in goal, turning aside 26 shots in picking up his 21st win of the season.

BAD, BAD BOYS, YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO GOOD...: The Cyclones, who began last week as the fifth-most penalized team in the ECHL (averaging 24.6 minutes per game), were called for just 50 minutes in penalties in the four games last week. In the games Wednesday and Friday, the penalty minute total for Cincinnati did not reach double figures. Despite this recent pacifistic stretch, Cincinnati remains the league's fifth-most penalized team and has the second-most major penalties (usually associated with fighting) on the circuit with 70.

HE'S ON A WIRLL: Cyclones forward Mike Wirll leads the ECHL in goal scoring with 41, five more than Mike Pandolfo of the Trenton Titans. Wirll has scored ten times as a member of the Cincinnati squad since being acquired from Pensacola on Valentine's Day.

MAKE THAT THEY ARE ALL ON A WIRLL: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber put center Barett Ehgoetz in the middle of wingers Travis Lisabeth and Mike Wirll after acquiring the pair from Pensacola on Valentine's Day. The trio have scored 21 of Cincinnati's 52 goals (40.3 percent) since being joined together.

HOME, SWEET HOME: The Cyclones are 16-4-4 (.750 winning percentage) at U.S. Bank Arena since Nov. 18. Cincinnati is 11-1-3 in games played on the weekends (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) during this stretch of games (.833 winning percentage). The Cyclones have an overall mark of 18-7-4 (.690) in all games played against North Division opponents this season at U.S. Bank Arena, the second-best winning percentage in the division (Toledo--.769).

FAST FACTS: The Cyclones are 27-6-3 when scoring the first goal of the game...Cincinnati is 13-0-1 when opening a 2-0 lead in a game...Cincinnati is 26-1 when leading after two periods...The Cyclones are 26-8-2 when holding opponents to three goals or less...The Cyclones have come from behind to win twelve times this season.

EDUCATION IN HOCKEY DAY GAME NEXT: After Tuesday's game with Wheeling, the Cyclones do not host a home game until the following Tuesday (March 27). That day, the Johnstown Chiefs visit for 'Education In Hockey Day' at 10:30am. More than 3500 students from the area are expected to attend, learning about how a hockey team and an ice rink tie into education. Tickets will be available at the gate. Teachers are encouraged to call the Cyclones at 513-421-4111, x. 139 for more details.

MEET THE PLAYERS TUESDAY NIGHT!: Members of the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey team will be appearing at Head First Sports Cafe (218 W. 3rd Street, Cincinnati--blocks away from the arena), after Tuesday's game (March 20) against the Wheeling Nailers. These players will be arriving around 11pm.

UNPACK THE BAGS, WE'RE GOING TO BE HERE A WHILE...: The Cyclones begin the week as the leaders of the North Division. Cincinnati moved into a share of the top spot on Dec. 23 and has not been moved from first place since (that's 85 days in a row for those of you following along), a total of more than twelve weeks. It is the longest stretch a Cincinnati pro sports team has been in first place since the Cincinnati Reds (MLB) 1990 wire-to-wire run in winning the World Series

DICKMANN'S MONDAY NIGHTS: Every Monday during the season, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber and selected players will be at Dickmann's Sports Cafe (879 Orphanage Rd.--Ft. Wright, KY) from 7-8pm. This week, Brian Mullally and Travis Lisabeth will be the guests. The show can be heard at www.dickmannscafe.com.

WWW.CYCLONESHOCKEY.COM: The most up-to-date information and broadcast of the games can be found on our website www.cycloneshockey.com.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 19, 2007


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.

OurSports Central