ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Enjoy All-Star Break

Published on January 18, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, are currently on their All-Star break but will get back to work this weekend with a home and home series with Kalamazoo. Friday night (Jan. 22), the team is at Wings Stadium for a 7:30pm tilt with Kalamazoo (1530 Homer -- The Sports Animal will carry the game at 7pm). Saturday (Jan. 23), the venue shifts to U.S. Bank Arena and the Cyclones host the Wings on a Kids Eat Free promotion. Children twelve and younger attending the game will receive a coupon good for a John Morrell hot dog, bag of Grippos potato chips and a can of orange Crush.

ALL-STAR GAME WEDNESDAY: Cyclones rookie forward Matt Pierce, rookie goaltender Jeremy Smith and trainer Bob Case will be at the ECHL All-Star Game presented by Reebok Hockey on Wednesday night at Ontario, California. The contest will be carried on live on Altitude (DirecTV channel 681) at 10pm. The skills competition will be held on Tuesday night at 10pm and will be provided free of charge to viewers on the internet at www.b2livetv.com.

GOOD FIRST HALF: The Cyclones head into the All-Star break with a 24-14-1 record and a.628 winning percentage. Cincinnati has the second-best winning percentage in the American Conference and is.003 ahead of Kalamazoo for the top win percentage in the division. Based on points, Toledo leads the North with 50 points, while the Cyclones are next with 49, Kalamazoo has 47 and Wheeling rounds out the division with 45 points.

HEAVY CONTRIBUTOR: Cyclones rookie Matt Pierce has accounted for 15.63 percent of the team's goals--the fifth-highest percentage in the ECHL and second-highest in the American Conference. Utah's Ryan Kinasewich leads the way (19.38%), while former Cyclone and current Wheeling forward Thomas Beauregard is second (18.98%). Greg Hogeboom of Ontario is third (18.63%), Wes Goldie of Victoria is fourth (17.48%). Should Pierce continue to produce goals at his current rate, it would be the third-highest percentage rate in club history. Sheldon Gorski contributed 20.18 percent of the goals in 1997-98 (46 of 208) with Louisville and chipped in 16.67 percent of the goal scoring in 1996-97. Jean-Michel Daoust currently ranks third on the team list at 15.02 percent with 32 goals in 2006-07.

NOTHING 'SHORT' OF EXCELLENT: The Cyclones penalty killers have scored their twelfth goal of the season to lead the ECHL. The club notched shorthanded goals in the Friday and Saturday's games to grab the top spot in the league. The twelve shorthanded goals are just two shy of tying the club record of 14 set during 1998-99 when the squad was based in Miami. The twelve shorthanded goals are the most by the team since relocating to Cincinnati prior to the 2001-02 campaign. Barret Ehgoetz now has seven career shorthanded goals--most in club history. Scott Reynolds is tied for the league lead with three shorthanded goals and his six points coming disadvantaged by a player are the most in the ECHL this season.

DEFENSE HAS BEEN SOLID: The Cyclones finished the first half of the season ranked first in shots allowed (26.28 per game), second in goals against average (2.72), second in special teams scoring (+10--Toledo leads at +12) and sixth in penalty kill at 83.2 percent. Cincinnati has held the opposition to two or fewer goals in 19 of the first 39 games (48.7 percent of the time).

ROAD WARRIORS: The Cyclones are 13-7-1 away from U.S. Bank Arena this season, the second-most wins for an away team in the ECHL this season and second-most in the American Conference (South Carolina has 15). The club already has a seven-game road winning streak (Dec. 17-Jan. 2), tying a team record and has won nine of its last ten away from U.S. Bank Arena dating back to November 29.

VIEW FROM THE TOP: The Cyclones have led the North Division for 17 days in 2009-10. The club moved into first place on December 20 and has been in the top slot for 17 of the past 28 days. In the three-plus seasons that Chuck Weber has been the coach of the squad--the team has led the division for 278 days.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones rallied with a pair of third period goals to tie the game, but let it get away in a 5-3 defeat to Toledo. Jimmy Kilpatrick and Scott Reynolds each had a goal and an assist and Matt Pierce had two assists for Cincinnati.

ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones scored three third period goals to break a 2-2 tie and claim a 5-3 victory at Johnstown. Barret Ehgoetz had a pair goals--including the game winner with 1:19 to go. Brian O'Hanley had a goal and an assist and Jeremy Smith turned away 26 shots to pick up his twelfth win of the season.

ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT...: Kalamazoo jumped out to a 1-0 first period lead, but the Cyclones would score the final three goals of the contest to claim a 3-1 triumph and the North Division lead. Chris Morehouse delivered the game winning goal and delivered a fight to the cause. Jimmy Kilpatrick had a goal and an assist and Ian McKenzie capped off the scoring. Robert Mayer turned away 24 shots to pick up the win.

ABOUT TUESDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones got a pair of goals from rookie Matt Pierce, but it was not enough in a 5-3 loss to Wheeling. Four straight goals for Wheeling over a 26:28 stretch secured the victory. Jason Jozsa had two assists in his return from Milwaukee. Jeremy Smith took the defeat, turning away 15 shots.

THE BEST OVER THE LAST THREE-PLUS: Since the start of the 2006-07 season, the Cincinnati Cyclones have won more hockey games than any other team in the ECHL. The Cyclones have claimed 157 wins, while Alaska and South Carolina rank second on the list with 153. Florida ranks fourth with 152 triumphs and Idaho rounds out the top five with 151 triumphs.

FAST STARTERS: The Cyclones lead the ECHL with 24 first goals. Cincinnati has a 18-6 record when jumping out to a 1-0 edge. Barret Ehgoetz and Matt Pierce have each scored the first goal of a game five times.

COMEBACK KIDS: The Cyclones last two victories have been come-from-behind efforts. Cincinnati has rallied eight times this season to win a hockey game. The club's last four wins have come with rallies from behind.

TEN ABOVE BREAK EVEN: With the win loss Saturday, the Cyclones again are ten games above the.500 mark at 24-14-1. During the Kelly Cup championship season of 2007-08, the Cyclones raced out to a 15-5-1 mark on December 7 and would reach a club record 44 games above.500 at 55-11-5 on the next to last day of the season. The second-fastest team to the mark was last year's edition, which hit the mark on February 6 with a win at Mississippi to go 26-16-5. The 2008-09 club reached the second-best mark in team history at 15 games over.500 on the final day of the season (41-26-5). Last year's edition first hit eleven games over.500 on February 21 when the record was 30-19-5.

CHAIN IS AS STRONG AS WEAKEST LINK: The Cyclones currently have the best winning percentage in the North Division (.625) and the second-most points (49). Cincinnati's AHL affiliates both lead their divisions and have the most points. The Hamilton Bulldogs lead the North Division of the Western Conference with a 26-11-7 record. Their 59 points and.670 winning percentage are tops in the conference. The Milwaukee Admirals lead the West Division with a 24-13-6 slate and a.628 winning percentage.

FORMER CYCLONES AMONG AHL BEST: Former Cincinnati Cyclones netminder Cedrick Desjardins ranks second in the AHL with a 1.81 goals against average, leads the league with five shutouts and has a 17-6-2 record. Forward David Desharnais is 15th in the AHL in scoring with 38 points on 14 goals and 24 assists.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones are averaging 3612 per game through the first 18 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. Attendance at Cyclones games is up 16.4 percent over last year's season average and is up 48.4 percent over the first 18 home games of a year ago--which is the biggest increase of any minor pro team in North America, Quad City is next at an increase of 36.7 percent). The club has drawn 65,033 through the turnstiles halfway through the home schedule. Last season, the club did not draw that many people through the first 24 games.

CLIMBING HIGH...: When the Cyclones returned to hockey in 2006-07, they finished 25th of 25 teams in attendance at 1844 per game. During the 2007-08 Kelly Cup march, the squad attracted 2523 per game--an increase of 36.8 percent. That percentage was the greatest of any team playing minor pro hockey. Last year, the team attracted 3104 per game--an increase of 23 percent, second-best in all of minor pro hockey. There are 78 North American minor pro hockey teams playing and the Cyclones rank 51st on that list.

COACHES SHOW: The Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show originates each Monday night from Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. Head Coach Chuck Weber joins Nick Brunker each week from 7-8pm. With the players and coaches on the All-Star break, this week the guest will be Cyclones broadcaster John Hamel.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics

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ECHL Stories from January 18, 2010


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