ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones At Home This Week

Published on May 11, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the 2008 Kelly Cup champions, battle the South Carolina Stingrays in the second game of the American Conference Finals tonight at the North Charleston Coliseum. South Carolina leads the best of seven affair, one game to none. The winner of this series takes on the National Conference winner between Alaska and Las Vegas starting on May 23 for the Kelly Cup.

HOW THEY GOT THERE...: The Cyclones advanced to the American Conference Finals by sweeping Elmira in four games for the North Division championship. Cincinnati claimed a 4-2 triumph on April 29 and then smacked the Jackals, 2-0 on May 1 to end the series. With the wins, Cincinnati became the first team to reach the Kelly Cup's'Final Four'. Alaska became the second team with a victory. South Carolina advanced after knocking off Charlotte in six games and most recently dropping Florida in six games.

WHAT IS COMING UP: The Cyclones play game two of the American Conference Finals tonight at South Carolina. The Stingrays lead the best of seven series one game to none. U.S. Bank Arena hosts game three on Wednesday night (May 13). It will be another 'Wet Wednesday' with one dollar selected domestic beers throughout the evening. Game four of the series arrives on Friday (May 15), as pizza slices (courtesy of Donato's) are one dollar each throughout the night. If a fifth game is needed, it would happen Saturday night (May 16)--also at U.S. Bank Arena. It would be one dollar hot dogs (courtesy of John Morrell) and three dollar 24 ounce beers (Miller High Life). If games six and seven are needed, they would be played in South Carolina next Monday (May 18) and Tuesday (May 19).

LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!: The Cyclones have enjoyed success on the road this season. The club led the ECHL with 22 road victories this season and is already 5-1 away from the friendly confines of U.S. Bank Arena during the postseason. Cincinnati has outscored the opposition, 23-16 on enemy ground and killed off 34 of 37 man disadvantage situations in those contests (91.9%). The Cyclones had a string of seven straight wins in away contests dating back to March 25 of the regular season broken on May 9. Since the start of the 2007-08 regular season and including the Kelly Cup playoffs, the Cyclones are 61-25-3 (.702 winning percentage). The Cyclones are 17-6 (.739 winning percentage) under Head Coach Chuck Weber in the playoffs away from home.

WEBER AMONG THE ECHL'S BEST EVER: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has quickly made a name for himself in the ECHL's coaching record book. Weber has compiled a 30-14 record (.682 winning percentage)--which is the best winning percentage by any coach in the league's history. Mike Haviland (current Chicago Blackhawks assistant) is second on the list with a .659 winning percentage (36-19). Weber has also broken into the top ten all-time in Kelly Cup playoff wins. His 30 playoff triumphs puts him tenth all-time, one behind former Cincinnati bench boss Malcolm Cameron (31) for ninth place on the career wins list.

THE NO GOAL PATROL: The Cyclones penalty killers were a stellar 92 percent effective against Elmira in the North Division Finals, surrendering two power play goals in 25 chances. The shorthanded crew chipped in with three tallies and stopped the last 21 chances the Jackals had in the series. In the series with South Carolina, the Cyclones have stopped seven of eight chances (87.5 percent).

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: Cincinnati surrendered four second period goals and absorbed a 7-4 loss at South Carolina. The seven goals surrendered were the most ever by a Cyclones club in the postseason. Barret Ehgoetz, Matt Macdonald, Ian McKenzie and Mark Van Guilder scored the goals, while Jimmy Kilpatrick chipped in with a pair of assists. Loic Lacasse took the defeat after stopping eleven shots in relief of Ryan Nie.

GET SHORTY: The Cyclones collected their ECHL-high fifth shorthanded goal of the playoffs on Mark Van Guilder's penalty shot score in the third period on Saturday night. It is a club record for postseason man-disadvantage goals. Last season, Reading led the Kelly Cup playoffs with five shorthanded goals.

QUICK STRIKE: The Cyclones have scored three goals or more in a period five times during the playoffs. They have won three of the four games they have accomplished this (one game in the Elmira series--it happened twice in the same game). During the regular season, the club pulled the trick 22 times and compiled a 17-3 mark when it happened.

COMEBACK KIDS: The win on April 29 was the club's fourth of the playoff season. In the three seasons Chuck Weber has directed the Cyclones, they have ten Kelly Cup playoff come-from-behind victories. During the regular season, the club rallied for 15 victories.

MEET THE FAULKNER: Cyclones forward Mac Faulkner became the first player in the three seasons that Chuck Weber has been the coach of the Cyclones to register a hat trick in a playoff game--accomplishing the feat in game two of the Elmira series. It is the first time in Faulkner's pro career that he has had a three goal night in the playoffs. South Carolina is well aware of Faulkner's exploits, as the fourth year veteran has played 19 games against the Stingrays between the regular season and playoffs and has six goals and eleven assists for 17 points and 29 penalty minutes. Mac has a four three point games in his career at the expense of South Carolina.

RALLY MONKEY!: The Cyclones comeback win on April 25 matched the club record for biggest deficit overcome in a playoff game. Cincinnati trailed 4-1 with 12:55 to go in the second period. Cincinnati rallied to tie the game with just over two minutes to play and then claimed the victory in the extra session. Last season, the Cyclones set the record after erasing a 3-0 third period deficit in game two of the American Conference Finals against South Carolina (May 9). A four goal explosion in the final frame forced the overtime and Thomas Beauregard ended the game in the sixth minute of overtime. These are the only two times in club history--regular season or playoffs, that the club has climbed out of a three goal hole and won the contest.

THAT'S OFFENSIVE: The eight goals on April 24 set a club playoff record for scoring in a game. Previously, the record was six goals in a 6-2 win over South Carolina in the American Conference Finals on May 9 of last season.

LONG NIGHT...: The goal scored by Matt Syroczynski on April 20, ended the second-longest game in club history at 83:48. Back on April 6, 2003 Nick Bootland netted the game ender--ironically in the second overtime--in a 4-3 win over Peoria. That ended the best of five series in four games and came at 91:02. The OT game on Monday was the fifth-longest played by a professional team called the Cincinnati Cyclones, as twice those IHL teams played in triple OT. The longest game was on May 1, 1998 when Scott Morrow's goal ended a 3-2 verdict at Detroit in the opening game of the Turner Cup Eastern Conference semifinals. That goal hit the back of the net at 110:05 of overtime and at 12:18am, nearly five hours after the game began.

THREE-PEAT: The Cyclones advanced to the North Division Finals for the third straight year under Head Coach Chuck Weber. Cincinnati is one of three teams to advance to the second round of the postseason in each of the last three years (Alaska and Las Vegas are the others).

A DIFFERENT THREE-PEAT...: In the three seasons Chuck Weber has been the coach of the Cyclones, the club has won at least a playoff series in each campaign. The only other coach in ECHL history to win at least a series in each of his first three years was Davis Payne (Pee Dee 2000-03). Weber has been a part of eight playoff bound teams in his coaching career--seven of those eight have won their opening round series of the postseason.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Forward Matt Syroczynski's goal in the second overtime on April 20 brought to an end the North Division semifinals was his second game winning goal in a Kelly Cup playoff game. Matt's only other game winning goal in postseason play came in game six of the Kelly Cup Finals last June.

NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE: The Cyclones and Nailers established a Kelly Cup playoffs record by having the road team win each of the first six games of the series. The only other time that the first five games were won by the guests was the 2000 Kelly Cup Finals between Louisiana and Peoria.

MILLER LITE CYCLONES COACHES SHOW: The Miller Lite Cyclones Coaches Show is held Monday nights from 7-8pm at Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. Head Coach Chuck Weber attends the event each week and provides insight on the games and team. The final show of the season will be the Monday after the playoffs end. There will be no show this evening, as the club is in South Carolina playing game two of the American Conference Finals.

BIG WINNERS: Since the start of the 2007-08 season and through the playoffs of this season--the Cyclones have compiled a record of 120-46-12 (.708 winning percentage). It is the best winning percentage of any team in the ECHL.

DIVISION CHAMPS AGAIN!: The Cyclones completed their four game sweep of Johnstown in the final eight days of the season to claim the North Division championship. The April 4 whitewashing of Johnstown (6-0) slipped Wheeling into the final playoff spot in the division.

PLAYOFF ATTENDANCE: The Cyclones are averaging 3350 fans per game during the Kelly Cup playoffs, eighth-best in the league. Cincinnati has welcomed 20,101 fans to U.S. Bank Arena in the playoffs--fourth-most in the league. The Cyclones are averaging 3.8 percent more in attendance in the playoffs than the regular season (up from 3104) to rank second in the ECHL in increased percentage. Alaska is up 7.9 percent in attendance to lead the way.

CHUCK IS GOOD IN OPENERS: Head Coach Chuck Weber has been in the coaching business for ten seasons and his teams have been to the postseason nine times. In eight of the nine campaigns that his clubs have gone to playoffs, they have won the opening round.

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ECHL Stories from May 11, 2009


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