ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Host Three This Week

January 25, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, play the second game of a four contest homestand against Johnstown tonight. Charlotte visits on Wednesday and South Carolina is here on Friday (1530 Homer - The Sports Animal will carry the game). The week ends with a trip to Kalamazoo on Saturday night.

THE SERIES: Tonight is the 61st regular season meeting between the teams. The Cyclones have a 38-16-6 (.683 winning percentage) record against Johnstown. Cincinnati is 19-10-1 (.650) in contests played at U.S. Bank Arena. This is the fifth of eleven meetings between the clubs this season (the Cyclones are 3-1) and the second of five at U.S. Bank Arena. Under Head Coach Chuck Weber, the Cyclones are 25-7-4 (.750) in the regular season.

EHGOETZ LIKES JOHNSTOWN: Cyclones center Barret Ehgoetz has had more points against Johnstown than any other ECHL club. The fifth year man from Kincardine, ON has played 33 games against the Chiefs and has 14 goals and 25 assists for 39 points and a +30 plus/minus rating.

REYNOLDS MOVES UP, NEARS MARK: Cyclones forward Scott Reynolds picked up an assist in the win over Kalamazoo on Saturday night, to move past former Cincinnati forward Nick Bootland for tenth place on the club's career scoring list. The fourth year player from Kerrobert, SK has 99 points with the Cyclones. Reynolds has points in twelve of the last thirteen games and has registered five goals and eleven assists for 16 points.

SMITH ENJOYS WEEK: Cyclones All-Star rookie goaltender Jeremy Smith enjoyed last week. First, he turned away six of eight shots in the third period of the annual ECHL All-Star Game as the American Conference rallied from a two goal deficit to tie the game at nine apiece at the end of regulation. In overtime, Smith turned away the only shot by either team and then permitted just one goal in the shootout for the 10-9 victory. Friday night, Jeremy came on in relief to stop twelve shots in a bit more than a period of a loss at Kalamazoo. Saturday night, Smith stopped 27 shots as the club claimed a 6-1 beating of Kalamazoo.

POWER SURGE: The Cyclones scored three power play goals in the 6-1 win over Kalamazoo on Saturday night, the third time this season that a trio of man-advantage scores have been registered. Cincinnati has scored a power play goal in each of the last eight games, netting twelve goals in 62 situations (19.4 percent). Since January 8 when this streak started, Cincinnati has improved from 18th in the ECHL on the power play (14.7 percent) up to 16th in the league (15.9).

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones scored three second period goals to blow open a 6-1 win over Kalamazoo. Jimmy Kilpatrick had a pair of goals and two assists for his first four-point night of the season. Dustin Sproat had a goal and two assists to pace the offense. Jeremy Smith steered aside 27 shots for the victory.

A DOZEN FOR NOW, MAYBE A BAKER'S DOZEN TOMORROW: The Cyclones are one of three ECHL teams (Idaho and South Carolina are the others) with at least a dozen victories both at home and on the road this season. Cincinnati has 13 road wins and with a triumph over Johnstown, the club will have a baker's dozen (13) wins on both sides of the ledger.

PRETTY GOOD: The Cyclones presently have the second-best winning percentage in the American Conference at.622. South Carolina (Friday's opponent) leads the league at.733. Idaho (.692) and Bakersfield (.671) are the only National Conference teams with better winning percentages than the Cyclones.

O'HANLEY HEATS UP: Cyclones defenseman Brian O'Hanley did not score a goal in his first 111 professional games. In his first game of 2010, he netted a score in the win at Johnstown. In the five games after that, Brian did not have a point--but has rebounded with goals in three of the last four games. The second year defenseman from Quincy, MA registered one multiple point game in his career prior to the start of the new year--and has three of them since January 1 in ten games.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones are averaging 3764 per game through the first 19 contests at U.S. Bank Arena, which ranks 14th 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. Saturday's crowd of 6485 was the third-largest of the season and 15th biggest in team history. Attendance at Cyclones games is up 21.3 percent over last year's season average and is up 47.7 percent over the first 19 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 71,518 through the turnstiles halfway through the home schedule. Last season, the club did not draw that many people through the first 25 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 in 2009-10 and the Cyclones rank 45th on that list. It is the highest ranking that the Cyclones have had on this chart after January 1 of a season since returning to action in 2006.

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 January 14 and 15 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 led at +12) and sixth in penalty kill at 83.2 percent. Cincinnati 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.

TEN ABOVE BREAK EVEN: With the win Saturday, the Cyclones again are ten games above the.500 mark at 25-15-1. 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.

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. Each week a pair of players join them for the show. With the game against Johnstown tonight, there is no show this week.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 25, 2010


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