ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Defeat South Carolina, 6-2

Published on May 9, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Cyclones turned a four goal second period into the springboard for a 6-2 win over the South Carolina Stingrays Friday night at U.S. Bank Arena. David Desharnais had two goals and two assists and Matt Macdonald had a goal and two assists to pace the offense. Cedrick Desjardins stopped 25 shots to register the victory. A club record crowd of 5210 was on hand to cheer the home team to its third straight postseason victory.

The win gives Cincinnati one game to none lead in the best of seven series for the American Conference championship. The winner of this series will advance to the Kelly Cup Finals which will begin Memorial Day weekend.

Game two of the series is at U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night at 7:30pm. Tickets will be available at the door. Hot dogs are the specialty item of the night and fans can purchase them for just one dollar each all night.

The Cyclones scored the opening goal 4:30 into the opening period, when Jean-Michel Daoust netted his first Kelly Cup playoff goal. Daoust scored on a shot from the right side of the goal crease, as David Desharnais and Matt Macdonald handed out the assists. Cincinnati outshot South Carolina in the first period, 13-7.

Cincinnati, for the second straight game, exploded for four goals to blow the game open. South Carolina would tie the game on a penalty shot goal from Trent Campbell his fifth of the postseason at 4:39. It would not be long before the Cyclones regained the lead.

Thirty-nine seconds to be precise.

David Desharnais picked up a rebound in the left slot and buried it behind netminder Davis Parley at 5:18 for his fifth of the playoffs from T.J. McElroy and Matt Syroczynski. Late in the period, a three goal flurry in 2:08 would extend the lead to 5-1. MacElory netted his first playoff goal at 16:43 coming down the slot and taking a pass from Desharnais and Macdonald in a four-on-four situation to establish a two goal edge. Thomas Beauregard broke in on the left wing side and beat Parley tight to the left side for his seventh goal at 18:02. Then, Macdonald picked up his third point of the night, scoring a goal from the right point-his first of the playoffs-at 18:51. Cincinnati controlled play in the middle frame, outshooting the Stingrays, 17-5, in the stanza.

Matt Smith netted his first playoff goal at 15:54 for South Carolina to cut the lead to 5-2, bu Desharnais picked up his second of the night and sixth of the postseason at 18:35 from Ryan Russell and Jon Gleed to close out the scoring.

It was the first time that a professional sporting conference final had been played in Cincinnati since the Cyclones played in the 2002-03 ECHL's Kelly Cup playoffs. In that series, Cincinnati dropped the first three games of that session-before bouncing back to win three in a row. Atlantic City then won the seventh game and kept the Cyclones one win away from a championship series berth.

This was the first game of the best of seven American Conference Championship series. The winner of this series will meet the winner of the Las Vegas and Utah series for a the Kelly Cup championship. The Cyclones (55-12-5) were the North Division, American Conference and Brabham Cup (best overall ECHL regular season record) champions. Cincinnati swept Johnstown in four games and knocked off Reading in seven games to get here. South Carolina (47-22-3) has won all three of its best of five series in five games. First, the Stingrays knocked off Augusta, then Gwinnett and then Columbia.

Tickets for all Cyclones games can be purchased at the U.S. Bank Arena box office, all Ticketmaster outlets including select Kroger stores, charge by phone at 513-562-4949 or online at ticketmaster.com. The most up-to-date information and broadcast of the games can be found on our website www.cycloneshockey.com.

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