ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cincinnati's Won 7 Straight

Published on February 15, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, play three home games this week. The club has won seven straight games and lead the North Division by eleven points over second place Kalamazoo. This week, Toledo visits on Wednesday for another 'Wet Wednesday' with one dollar cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller High Life. Friday, Wheeling is in for one dollar John Morrell hot dogs. Saturday, Wheeling is also in for the 'Pink In The Rink' game. The players will wear special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Patty Brisben Foundation. Donatos pizza slices will be priced at one dollar during the evening.

WINNERS AT HOME...: The Cyclones have won 18 games on home ice this season, the most by any team in the American Conference. The 18 wins are the second-most in the ECHL behind Victoria's 21 triumphs.

WINNERS ON THE ROAD TOO...: The Cyclones won their 16th away game of the season in the triumph at Johnstown yesterday. That ties Cincinnati with South Carolina for the most in the American Conference and is also the second-most in the ECHL behind Idaho's 18 victories on the road.

CHUCK MOVES UP: While the ECHL league media guide does not keep it as an official statistic, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber reached another milestone with last night's win over Johnstown. Through the first four full seasons of coaching in their career, Weber has moved into sixth place on the wins list with 167. That puts him past Bob Ferguson on that list (166). Dave Farrish holds the ECHL record for most wins through his first four full seasons as a coach with 186. He has already passed current ECHL coaches Matt Thomas (Stockton) and Greg Puhalski (Wheeling) this season.

SEVEN IN A ROW: The Cyclones are riding a seven game winning streak, which is the longest of the season. The last time the team won six in a row was January 10-24 of last season. During that run that included two overtime wins, the Cyclones outscored the opponents--35-16. This season, that margin is 29-12. The last time the squad assembled a seven game winning streak, or longer, was when the ECHL record 17 game winning streak took place from January 16 through February 29, 2008. The Cyclones outscored the opposition, 68-27, in those contests.

EVERY MONTH SHOULD BE FEBRUARY: The Cyclones have enjoyed the month of February in recent times. The second month of the year has produced a 28-5 record (.848 winning percentage) since the 2008 calendar year. Cincinnati is 7-0 this season, went 8-5 a year ago and was 13-0 during February 2008. That 13 win stretch in 2008 was part of the ECHL record 17 game win streak for the club.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Cyclones claimed a 5-1 win at Johnstown last night. After spotting the Chiefs a 1-0 lead, the club scored the final five goals of the contest. Mark Voakes had a pair of goals in the third period, as the squad erupted for a trio of markers in the frame to blow the game open. Scott Reynolds had a goal and an assist. Jeremy Smith turned away 17 shots in the victory.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones defeated Johnstown, 6-2, at U.S. Bank Arena. Dustin Sproat had a hat trick and an assist for four points, while Jimmy Kilpatrick had a goal and three assists for four points and Robert Mayer won his fifth straight with 17 saves. Cincinnati jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and never looked back.

ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: Cyclones goaltender Robert Mayer stopped 27 shots en route to his second shutout of the season, as the club won at Toledo, 1-0. Barret Ehgoetz had the lone goal of the night in the second period, as Scott Marchesi and Ryan Del Monte had the assists.

BLANK YOU VERY MUCH...: The 1-0 win Friday night was the first win by such a score since January 5, 2007. That night, Cedrick Desjardins stopped 31 shots as Mathieu Aubin had theonly goal in a triumph over Reading at U.S. Bank Arena.

ABOUT WEDNESDAY...: The Cyclones spotted Kalamazoo a 2-0 lead early in the second period and then used a timely timeout near the midway point to open the floodgates and claim a 5-2 win. Dustin Sproat had a pair of goals, Jimmy Kilpatrick had three assists and seven players scored a pair of points in the triumph. Jeremy Smith kicked away 18 shots to take the win.

THE VIEW IS BETTER FROM THE TOP: The Cyclones are the leaders of the North Division of the American Conference. Cincinnati has held the top spot in the division for 40 days. The club led the North Division for 51 days a year ago in claiming its second consecutive regular season crown and led 120 days during the Kelly Cup run of 2008. In 2006-07, the Cyclones were on top for 90 days. The 301 days at the top are the most by any North Division team over the past four seasons.

SEVENTEEN OVER!: Last night's win moved the Cyclones to seventeen games above the break even point for the first time this season (34-17-1). On the first try at seventeen over--the club made it. The last time the Cyclones have been fifteen games over the break even point was at the end of last season when the squad was 41-26-5. The last time the club was 16 over break even was at the end of 2007-08, when the squad was a gaudy 43 games above--at 55-12-5.

GUNNING FOR 35: With the win last night, the Cyclones hit 34 wins--second-fastest in team history. The fastest to 34 wins was during 2007-08, when the squad won on February 9. That club also had 35 wins by February 14.

THE AHL LOVES THE CYCLONES: The Cyclones have had 15 different players promoted to the American Hockey League this season. Those players have been recalled a total of 21 times and the Cyclones have lost more than 180 man games to recalls.

TRAVEL TALE...: The Cyclones received good news Sunday morning in Johnstown. Forward Maxime Lacroix was reassigned to the club by Hamilton. Lacroix arrived at the Cambria County War Memorial just before 3pm. However, his luggage did not. Maxime was on the lineup card and eligible to play--but his equipment and personal luggage did not arrive until 9:40pm. That was moments after the Cyclones win over the Chiefs.

IT'S MAGIC...: While it is a bit early to be looking at playoff matchups and possible scenarios--the Cyclones do have a 'magic number' of 28 to qualifying for an American Conference Kelly Cup berth. Cincinnati would need to finish with more points than any four of the following to make the field (possible points in brackets): Johnstown (78), Trenton (89), Wheeling (94), Gwinnett (97), Toledo (98), Reading (98) and Florida (98).

DEFENSE SOLID: The Cyclones have a 2.69 goals against average, second-best in the ECHL. Cincinnati is allowing just 26.4 shots per game--again, second-best in the ECHL. The penalty kill ranks ninth in the league at 82.1 percent, while the club leads the league with thirteen shorthanded goals.

POWER SURGE: The Cyclones have scored three power play goals in back to back games for the first time this season. The club has improved to 14th in the ECHL in power play efficiency at 16.9 percent on the year.

PRETTY GOOD: The Cyclones have the second-most standings points (69) that they have had through 52 games in team history. Through 52 games of 2007-08, the club posted a 41-8-3 record (85 points).

NOT AFRAID OF A LITTLE OVERTIME: The Cyclones lead the ECHL in winning percentage in overtime. Cincinnati has won five of the six contests that have extended past regulation time in 2009-10. The club is 2-0 in overtime games, including Friday's 3-2 triumph over South Carolina. The squad is 3-1 in shootouts. Of teams at the 'AA' level or higher, the Cyclones and Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) each have a.833 winning percentage (5-1 for both). Fort Wayne (IHL) is third at.778 (7-2 record).

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones are averaging 3513 per game through the first 26 contests at U.S. Bank Arena, which ranks 16th in the ECHL. The club has already drawn the second-largest (10,920 for Throwback Night on November 6) and fourth-largest (8944 for Education In Hockey Day on November 17) regular season crowds in team history. The January 23rd crowd of 6485 was the third-largest of the season and 15th biggest in team history, while Saturday night's 6423 ranks next (16th) on the list. Attendance at Cyclones games is up 13.2 percent over last year's season average and is up 19.9 percent over the first 26 home games of a year ago--which is the second-biggest increase of any minor pro team in North America, Quad City is tops at an increase of 39.8 percent. The club has drawn 91,330 through the turnstiles near the three-quarter mark through the home schedule. Last season, the club did not draw that many people through the first 31 games (March 18, 2009).

COORS LIGHT COACHES SHOW: The Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show is held each Monday night at Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee from 7-8pm. Head Coach Chuck Weber and host Nick Brunker join a pair of players for this event. This week, defenseman Scott Marchesi and forward Matt Pierce are the special guests.

GAME CHANGE: The Cyclones game against Johnstown scheduled for Wednesday, March 17 has been moved to Thursday, March 18. Tickets for the March 17 games will be honored the next night.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics

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ECHL Stories from February 15, 2010


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