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 Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones One Point Out Of First

March 30, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the 2008 Kelly Cup champions, close out the regular season this week with three games against Johnstown. The Cyclones enter the week one point out of first place in the North Division of the American Conference.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Cyclones finished the season 22-13-1 away from U.S. Bank Arena this season. The 22 victories are the most in the ECHL and will be one more than Florida will amass. During the 2007-08 season, the Cyclones led the ECHL with 26 road victories. The 48 triumphs away from home over the past two seasons is the most ever by an ECHL club over that time frame.

NORTH STANDINGS: Trenton leads the North Division with 82 points. The Cyclones and Elmira are tied for second with 81 points. Johnstown and Wheeling are tied for fourth place with 78 points each. Dayton and Reading have both been mathematically eliminated from the Kelly Cup playoff picture. Only the top four teams in the North Division will advance to the postseason.

'MAGICAL' PLAYOFF NEWS: The Cyclones have a 'magic' number of four to clinching a Kelly Cup playoff spot. Any standings point gained by Cincinnati or points lost by Wheeling will reduce that number. When it hits zero, the Cyclones will secure a postseason berth for the third straight year.

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART...: The North Division playoff chase is the closest divisional race in the 21-year history of the ECHL. Wednesday night (April 1), three teams could secure playoff berths in the North Division. A Cyclones win over Johnstown will put the Cyclones into the Kelly Cup playoffs. A Trenton win in regulation time over Wheeling and a Cyclones loss in overtime or a shootout would also get Cincinnati into the playoffs. Elmira could also make the postseason with a win and a victory by either Trenton or Cincinnati.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones utilized a pair of third period goals 64 seconds apart from Barret Ehgoetz and Matt Syroczynski to propel the club to a 2-1 win at Johnstown. Loic Lacasse picked up the victory in goal by stopping ten of the eleven shots he faced in the contest.

SHUT DOWN: The Cyclones limited Johnstown to a season-low eleven shots on goal in Saturday's 2-1 win. It is the fourth time this season that Cincinnati has held an opponent to under 20 shots on goal in a game. The Cyclones are allowing 27.8 shots per game, the second-best average in the ECHL.

ABOUT THURSDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones dropped a 5-3 decision to Trenton. Cincinnati rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third period with scores from Justin Johnson and Matt Syroczynski late in the frame, but an empty net goal in the final minute secured the decision.

ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones dismantled the Dayton Bombers, 6-0, at the Nutter Center. Mac Faulkner delivered a hat trick, Dustin Sproat chipped in a pair of goals and Mark Van Guilder handed out three assists. Ryan Nie stopped 24 shots in taking the triumph--his 20th of the year.

SPROAT'S SUDDEN DELIVERY: Cyclones rookie forward Dustin Sproat established a club record scoring goals ten seconds apart in the second period of Wednesday night's 6-0 slaughter of Dayton. Sproat scored at 7:25 and 7:35 of the second period to blow the doors off of a 3-0 lead and chased Paul Drew from the game. Sam Ftorek held the previous record of 27 seconds set during the 2006-07 campaign.

FIRST PLACE CYCLONES!: The win on February 3 vaulted the third place Cyclones into first place in the North Division for the first time since the end of the 2007-08 regular season. Cincinnati sat in the division lead for 90 days in 2006-07, for 120 days in 2007-08 and now 49 days in 2008-09. The 259 days are the most by any team in the North Division over the past three years. Since grabbing the top spot on February 3, the club has only been out of first for six days (February 18-19, March 14 and 27-29).

COMEBACKS!: The Cyclones rally versus Johnstown on March 28 marked thirteen times this season that Cincinnati has registered a comeback win. Last season, the squad recorded 25 comebacks and in the three seasons under Chuck Weber, the club has rallied 51 times to win. Three times the Cyclones have erased two goal deficits in 2008-09. Nine comeback triumphs have occurred since Christmas.

NINE UP!: There are currently nine players who have appeared in games for Cincinnati this season that are currently in the American Hockey League. Besides Thomas Beauregard, Jimmy Kilpatrick, Olivier Latendresse, Matt Macdonald, Kyle Rank, Joe Ryan, Mark Santorelli, Stephen Werner and J.T. Wyman are all playing at hockey's 'AAA' level. This season, a total of 17 players have earned callups and played more than 300 games, scored 20 goals, assembled more than 60 points and collected six wins. At one point three weeks ago, the Cyclones had a season-high 13 players simultaneously on AHL rosters.

MILLER LITE CYCLONES COACHES SHOW: The Miller Lite Cyclones Coaches Show will be held Mondays from 7-8pm at Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. Head Coach Chuck Weber and a pair of players are present at the show each week. Tonight, forward Matt Syroczynski and defenseman T.J. McElroy are the guests.


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