ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Near End Of Road Trip

Published on March 8, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, close out their six game road trip with a pair of games this week. Tonight (March 8), the club finishes it tour of the South Division with a 7pm tilt at Gwinnett. After returning to the Queen City for a couple of days, the club heads to East Division leader Elmira for its final regular season appearance at the First Arena.

REYNOLDS HITS THE DOUBLE CENTURY MARK: Cyclones forward Scott Reynolds played in his 200th game with the club Sunday afternoon. Reynolds joins Barret Ehgoetz (who played in game number 260 yesterday) and Sheldon Gorski (218 games) as the players to hit 200 games with the club.

ANOTHER NOTCH ON THE BELT?: In the four seasons Chuck Weber has been the Head Coach of the Cincinnati Cyclones, the club has won games in 19 different buildings (18 on the road). Weber will have an opportunity to win in his 20th building tonight with his first visit as a head coach to Gwinnett.

WE LIKE THE SOUTH!: The Cyclones welcome the trip through the South Division, as the club has assembled a 7-2 record against these opponents this season. Cincinnati hosted Florida for a pair of wins in December, South Carolina for wins during January, February and March and split games with Charlotte earlier in the season.

AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW...: The Cyclones are 11-3-2 (.750 winning percentage) since February 1. The club has collected an American Conference-high 38 wins. It is the second-fastest in team history that the club has reached 38 victories. The 2008-09 Kelly Cup championship team won the 38th game on February 21 and notched the 39th win on February 22. While reaching the Cyclones club record 55 regular season wins is now impossible--the club can still achieve the second-most wins in team history, which is 41 set last year. A win today will tiethe mark for third-most in team history--39, during the inaugural season of 1995-96 in Louisville.

WINNERS AT HOME...: The Cyclones have won 20 games on home ice this season, the second-most by any team in the American Conference. The 20 wins are the third-most in the ECHL behind Victoria's 22 and Kalamazoo's 21. Cincinnati is 8-1-2 in the last eleven contests at U.S. Bank Arena, dating back to Janaury 25.

WINNERS ON THE ROAD TOO...: The Cyclones won their 18th away game of the season in the triumph at South Carolina on Friday. That gives Cincinnati the most in the American Conference and ties for most in the ECHL with Idaho. The Cyclones are 14-5 (.737 winning percentage) 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. Motherwell was named the AMI Graphics/ECHL Plus Performer of the Month for February. Dustin Sproat finished third at +10, Jamie Coghlan and Scott Marchesi tied for eleventh at +8 and Jimmy Kilpatrick finished 17th at +7. The nine wins are the second-most in February in team history (2007-8 had eleven).

GOALTENDERS WERE GOOD!: The Cyclones had one of the top goaltending tandems in the month of February as well. Robert Mayer lead 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.

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 the Feb. 24 win over Wheeling. Through the first four full seasons of coaching in their career, Weber has moved into fourth place on the wins list with 171 (past Doug Shedden 170). Dave Farrish holds the ECHL record for most wins through his first four full seasons as a coach with 186. Chuck has passed current ECHL coaches Matt Thomas (Stockton) and Greg Puhalski (Wheeling) this season. Next on the list in third place is Glen Gulutzan at 173 wins.

GOT SHORTY?: The Cyclones lead the ECHL with 14 shorthanded goals. It also ties the team record for man-disadvantage goals in a season.

IT'S MAGIC...: The Cyclones have a 'magic number' of eight to clinching a playoff berth. With a win today, the number reduces by two and depending on the results of the Trenton-Wheeling game--it could adjust further. The home ice 'magic number' is 18 and the 'magic number' to winning the North Division and American Conference is 23.

CLOSE TO A CLINCH: With a Cyclones win Monday night and the proper losses around the American Conference--Cincinnati could clinch a trip to the Kelly Cup playoffs as early as Saturday night (March 13).

TOTAL RECALL: The Cyclones have had defenseman Brett Motherwell and forward Maxime Lacroix advance to the American Hockey League during this southern swing. Motherwell was loaned to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders on Thursday. Lacroix was recalled by the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday. This season, a total of sixteen Cyclones players have been promoted a total of 25 times. More than 180 games have been played by men who have represented Cincinnati this season at the AHL level. A total of 207 man-games have been lost to the Cyclones as a result of these advancements.

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Cyclones went 2-1 on the week. The Southern trip started with a 5-3 win at Charlotte on Wednesday night. Friday night, a pair of third period goals allowed the Cyclones a 4-2 win at defending Kelly Cup champion South Carolina. Sunday, the Stingrays bounced back with three third period goals to pick up a 6-2 win at the expense of Cincinnati.

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.

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.

IT'S MAGIC: The Cyclones have a 'magic number' of eight 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 (63 possible points), Wheeling (82), Trenton (83), Gwinnett (86), Reading (90) and Toledo (90) 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. A Cyclones win tonight over Gwinnett in regulation time, coupled with Gladiators losses on Thursday and Saturday, with a Trenton loss on Wednesday, Friday or Saturday and a Wheeling loss on Saturday, or a Cincinnati win on Saturday--gets the club in the playoffs.

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 62 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 13.

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. The show is canceled this week as there is a game tonight. It will resume next week (Monday, March 15).

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from March 8, 2010


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.

OurSports Central