ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Head South For The Week

Published on March 1, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, hit the road this week for their southern swing--a four game sojourn over six days. Wednesday (March 3), the trip starts at Charlotte. It will be the Cyclones first-ever visit to Charlotte with a 7pm tilt. Friday (March 5) and Sunday (March 7), the club is at South Carolina for a re-match of the past two American Conference championship series against the Stingrays. One week frrom today (March 8), the Cyclones finish the trip down south with a 7pm clash against Gwinnett.

WE LIKE THE SOUTH!: The Cyclones will welcome the trip through the South Division, as the club has assembled a 5-1 record against these opponents this season. Cincinnati hosted Florida for a pair of wins in December, South Carolina for a pair of triumphs during January and February and split games with Charlotte earlier in the season.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones are averaging 3651 per game through the first 31 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. The crowd of 7175 on February 20 was the seventh-largest in team history and third biggest of the year. The club has attracted in excess of 6000 on seven dates. Attendance at Cyclones games is up 17.6 percent over last year's season average and is up 25.9 percent over the first 31 home games of a year ago--which is the second-biggest increase of any minor pro team in North America, Quad City is tops at an increase of 39.2 percent. The club has drawn 113,183 through the turnstiles this season.

MORE ATTENDANCE: The 113,183 attending Cyclones games this season are the most to watch hockey at U.S. Bank Arena since the 2002-03 campaign. That season, 131, 141 attended regular season games. With five games remaining at home, Cincinnati needs to average 3592 per game to hit the plateau. The Cyclones have two weeknight, a Friday (April 2 Fan Appreciation Night) and two Saturday games (March 20 Kids Eat Free and March 27 Premium Beer Night) left in the schedule. The current attendance is the fifth largest single season total in club history.

WINNERS AT HOME...: The Cyclones have won 20 games on home ice this season, the most by any team in the American Conference. The 20 wins are the second-most in the ECHL behind Victoria's 22. Cincinnati is 9-1-1 in the last eleven contests at U.S. Bank Arena. The last time the club lost on home ice in regulation time, prior to Friday night, was a 5-1 defeat to Johnstown on Jan. 25.

WINNERS ON THE ROAD TOO...: The Cyclones won their 16th away game of the season in the triumph at Johnstown on February 14. That ties Cincinnati for the most in the American Conference and is also the second-most in the ECHL behind Idaho's 19 victories on the road. The Cyclones are 12-4 away from U.S. Bank Arena since Nov. 29.

THAT IS A 'PLUS': The Cyclones enjoyed their 9-2-2 record during the month of February. Cincinnati's Brett Motherwell had the ECHL's best plus/minus statistic number at +14. Dustin Sproat finished third at +10, Jamie Coghlan and Scott Marchesi tied for eleventh at +8 and Jimmy Kilpatrick finished 17th at +7.

GOALTENDERS WERE GOOD!: The Cyclones had one of the top goaltending tandems in the month of February as well. Robert Mayer had the ECHL in goals against average at 1.59 and turned in a 4-0-1 record with a.930 save percentage. Jeremy Smith finished fourth at 2.09, turned in a 5-2-1 record with a.918 save percentage.

ACTUALLY, EVERYONE ENJOYED FEBRUARY: The Cyclones began the month of February with a one point lead in the North Division over the Toledo Walleye. The 9-2-2 mark in the month took Cincinnati to an eight point lead over the second place Kalamazoo Wings.

CHUCK MOVES UP: While the ECHL league media guide does not keep it as an official statistic, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber nearly reached another milestone with Wednesday night's win over Wheeling. Through the first four full seasons of coaching in their career, Weber has moved into fifth place on the wins list with 169. That ties him with Bob Woods on that list (169). Dave Farrish holds the ECHL record for most wins through his first four full seasons as a coach with 186. He has passed current ECHL coaches Matt Thomas (Stockton) and Greg Puhalski (Wheeling) this season. With his next win, he will tie Doug Shedden (170) for fourth place on the list.

VAN GUILDER A WINNER: Cyclones forward Mark Van Guilder made his return to Cincinnati a memorable one on Wednesday night in the 3-2 win over Wheeling. Van Guilder scored in the first period and had the eventual game winner at 1:20 of the third period. It was the eighth game winning goal in Mark's career with the Cyclones--moving him into a tie for fourth place on the club's all-time list. Barret Ehgoetz and Matt Syroczynski are tied for second place with eleven each. Van Guilder's efforts were noticed by the Milwaukee Admirals--who recalled him yesterday morning.

EVERY MONTH SHOULD BE FEBRUARY: The Cyclones have enjoyed the month of February in recent times. The second month of the year has produced a 30-7-2 record (.795 winning percentage) since the 2008 calendar year. Cincinnati is 9-2-2 this season, went 8-5 a year ago and was 13-0 during February 2008. That 13 win stretch in 2008 was part of the ECHL record 17 game win streak.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones dropped a 6-2 decision at Johnstown on Saturday night. Brett Motherwell and Mark Van Guilder recorded the goals and Dustin Sproat had an assist on each goal for Cincinnati.

ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: A pair of special teams goals proved to be enough for the Charlotte Checkers to grab a 2-1 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones on Friday. Scott Marchesi scored the one goal for the Cyclones and got a 13 save effort from Jeremy Smith.

ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT...: Mark Van Guilder had a pair of goals and Brett Motherwell had three assists in a 3-2 win over Wheeling. The triumph was secured by rookie goaltender Jeremy Smith, who turned aside 24 shots in taking the win--his 18th of the year.

IT'S MAGIC: The Cyclones have a 'magic number' of 16 to clinching a playoff berth in the Kelly Cup playoffs. The American Conference will admit eight teams and the three division winners will be seeded in the top three spots. Johnstown (70 possible points), Wheeling (85), Trenton (89), Gwinnett (90), Reading (92) and Toledo (92) are in danger of missing. As long as four teams have fewer potential points than the Cyclones actually have--Cincinnati will secure a spot in the postseason. The Cyclones have a 'magic number' of 28 to clinching the North Division and one of the top three spots in the American Conference playoffs.

ELEVEN WITHOUT A REGULATION LOSS: The Cyclones had their unbeaten in regulation time stretch of eleven games (9-0-2) end on Friday night. The last time a Cincinnati team went eleven in a row without a regulation time loss was during the ECHL record 17 game winning streak from Jan. 16 through Feb. 29, 2008.

PIERCE TIES CLUB RECORD: The first period goal by Matt Pierce on Feb. 17 marks the seventh time this season that he has scored the opening marker of the contest. Pierce ties Jimmy Kilpatrick, who equalled the record of two others last season, for the top spot in club history. Matt is tied with Thomas Beauregard (Wheeling) for second place in the ECHL. Mark Derlago (Idaho) has the most first goals this season with eight.

THE VIEW IS BETTER FROM THE TOP: The Cyclones are the leaders of the North Division of the American Conference. Cincinnati has held the top spot in the division for 55 days. The club led the North Division for 51 days a year ago in claiming its second consecutive regular season crown and led 120 days during the Kelly Cup run of 2008. In 2006-07, the Cyclones were on top for 90 days. The 316 days at the top are the most by any North Division team over the past four seasons. Cincinnati will lead the North until at least Saturday, March 6.

GUNNING FOR 36: The Cyclones presently have 36 wins, second-most in the ECHL. It is the second-fastest the club has hit three dozen wins. The fastest to 36 wins was during 2007-08, when the squad won on February 15. That club had the 37th win come on February 16, 2008. By March 1, 2008--the Cyclones had 42 victories.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Cyclones have a 2.67 goals against average, best in the ECHL. Idaho ranks second in goals against at 2.70. Cincinnati is allowing just 26.2 shots per game, second-best in the ECHL. The penalty kill ranks fifth in the league at 82.6 percent, while the club leads the league with thirteen shorthanded goals.

COORS LIGHT COACHES SHOW: The Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show is held each Monday night at Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee from 7-8pm. Head Coach Chuck Weber and host Nick Brunker join a pair of players for this event. This week with the club's departure later in the evening--Coach Weber will be flying solo with Nick.

THE AHL LOVES THE CYCLONES: The Cyclones have had 15 different players promoted to the American Hockey League this season. Those players have been recalled a total of 22 times and the Cyclones have lost more than 205 man games to recalls.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics

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ECHL Stories from March 1, 2010


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