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Cyclones Encourage Advance Ticket Purchase For Thursday s Kelly Cup Finals Game Six

June 3, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) - Cincinnati Cyclones News Release

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Cincinnati Cyclones are encouraging fans to purchase tickets in advance for Game 6 of the Kelly Cup Finals at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at U.S. Bank Arena.

Tickets are only $10 and can be purchased online at CyclonesHockey.com or by telephone at (513) 421-4111.

The first two games of the Finals in Cincinnati had walk-up crowds in excess of 3,000 each night and advance ticket purchase can help fans avoid standing in line.

The crowd of 8,676 for Game 1 was the largest Kelly Cup Playoffs crowd since 2001 and the total attendance of 15,573 for Games 1 and 2 was the largest for the first two games since 1998 and the fourth-highest in ECHL postseason history.

Cincinnati has a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series to determine who will hoist the Kelly Cup as the 'AA' national champion. The Kelly Cup is the championship trophy named in honor of Patrick J. Kelly, who was one of the founding fathers of the ECHL and an inaugural inductee into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2008. He served as Commissioner for the league's first eight seasons and has been Commissioner Emeritus since 1996.

The Cyclones are trying to bring Cincinnati its first professional championship since the Reds won the World Series in 1990 while the last national championship won in Las Vegas was a basketball title by the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 1990.

The last time Cincinnati hosted a professional hockey finals series was 1973 when the Cincinnati Swords beat Nova Scotia for the American Hockey League championship. The city has won six hockey championships including five International Hockey League titles in a row from 1952-57. The NHL affiliate for the IHL championship teams was the Montreal Canadiens, who are the NHL affiliate for the modern-day Cyclones.

Tickets for Games 7, if necessary, are also available online at CyclonesHockey.com and by telephone at (513) 421-4111. If the game is not played the ticket purchase will be credited back to the customer.

Fans unable to attend in person don't have to miss a minute of the action as the game will be available live on B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider of the ECHL."

2008 Kelly Cup Finals
Cincinnati Leads Series 3-2
Game 1 - Las Vegas 2 at CINCINNATI 4
Game 2 - LAS VEGAS 1 at Cincinnati 0
Game 3 - CINCINNATI 4 at Las Vegas 2
Game 4 - Cincinnati 0 at Las Vegas 2
Game 5 - CINCINNATI 4 at Las Vegas 0
Game 6 - Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati
Game 7 - Saturday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati *

* - If Necessary

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will play with 24 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in 2008-09.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 99 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players. In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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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.

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