ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Drop Defending Champs In OT, 3-2

Published on January 29, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


CINCINNATI - Cincinnati Cyclones defenseman Brian O'Hanley scored 1:42 into overtime to give the Cincinnati Cyclones a 3-2 triumph over the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday night. Goaltender Robert Mayer stopped 35 shots to take his twelfth win of the season.

The contest was the first regular season game between the Cyclones and Stingrays. The teams had met in both the 2008 and 2009 American Conference Finals. Cincinnati won a five game struggle-with three overtime decisions-and captured the Kelly Cup in 2008. South Carolina swept the Cyclones en route to its third Kelly Cup championship last season.

The Cyclones opened the scoring at 16:03 of the first period when Jimmy Kilpatrick notched his sixth goal of the season on the power play. After Barret Ehgoetz slid the puck from the left point to the right point, Brock Sheahan fired a shot that rebounded to the left post and Kilpatrick slapped it home. South Carolina rebounded with a Matt Scherer score-his twelfth of the year-to knot the scores at one each at the first intermission. South Carolina outshot Cincinnati, 10-8.

Cincinnati grabbed the lead with the lone marker of the second period when Mark Voakes, appearing in his first game since January 2 (eleven games)-notched his fourth goal of the season. Voakes fired a puck past Shane Connelly from the left wing side as Dustin Sproat and Brian O'Hanley had the assists. The Stingrays won the shots battle, 13-8, in the frame.

South Carolina evened the scores at 1:40 of the third period, as Keith Johnson picked up his 19th goal of the season on the power play. The Stingrays won the shots battle, 13-9.

In the overtime, O'Hanley's heroics ended the game at 1:42 with his fifth goal of the campaign. Cincinnati outshot South Carolina, 2-1, but the Stingrays won the shots battle for the game, 37-27. Cincinnati went two-for-four on the power play, while South Carolina was one-for-three. Cincinnati now leads the North Division by four points over Kalamazoo.

Robert Mayer took the win, stopping 35 shots, while Shane Connelly took the overtime loss, stopping 24 shots.

The crowd of 5857 pushed the Cyclones season attendance to 80,034-an average of 3637 per game. It was the 19th largest crowd in team history. The Cyclones sit 16th in the ECHL in attendance, 25.6 percent ahead of last season's pace through 22 games. Cincinnati, which has finished first or second in attendance percentage improvement in each of the prior two seasons, has attracted more fans than it had through 28 games in 2008-09 (through February 25, 2009).

Cincinnati is 27-16-1, while South Carolina is 30-11-7. The Cyclones complete the week with a trip to Kalamazoo tomorrow night at 7:30pm. Next Wednesday (Wheeling) and Thursday (South Carolina), the Cyclones have home games at U.S. Bank Arena.

Tickets for the 2009-10 Cincinnati Cyclones season are now on sale. The Cyclones Sales Department can be reached at 513-421-PUCK, extension 3. Selected Friday night games are carried on 1530-AM Homer, while all 72 regular season games can be heard on the club's website at: www.cycloneshockey.com. The next game on 1530 Homer will come Friday, when the Cyclones host South Carolina at 7:30pm.

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