ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Return Home In First

Published on March 15, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, return to U.S. Bank Arena after a six game road trip this week. Thursday (March 18), the club hosts Johnstown in a 7:30pm clash on a 'Thirsty Thursday' with one dollar Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller High Life cans all night. Friday (March 19), the club is back on the road at Toledo in a 7pm showdown. Saturday (March 20), the Cyclones and Toledo close out their regular season series with a 7:30pm tilt at U.S. Bank Arena on a 'Kids Eat Free' promotion.

REMINDER!: The Cyclones game on Thursday, March 18 is re-scheduled from Wednesday, March 17. Johnstown reminds the opponent--but the game is now a day later. Please make a note of it!

CLINCHING A PLAYOFF BERTH!: With the Cyclones win at Elmira on Saturday night and the results of games over the weekend, Cincinnati is on the verge of a Kelly Cup postseason berth. The Cyclones could earn a playoff berth as quickly as Thursday night with a win over Johnstown. Should Cincinnati not win that game--Friday, the club could also get in. Either a Cyclones win at Toledo or a Trenton loss in regulation time at Charlotte would secure the berth. With any Cincinnati win in the final nine games or any Trenton loss in regulation time in any of its final nine games--will advance the Cyclones to the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

AUBIN RETURNS: The ECHL trade deadline arrived on Friday (March 12) and the Cyclones made a move prior to it, acquiring forward Mathieu Aubin from the Bakersfield Condors, in exchange for forward Mark Voakes and defenseman Scott Marchesi. Aubin was a member of the 2008 Kelly Cup championship team. A fifth round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2005, Mathieu signed with Bakersfield this summer.

FORMER CYCLONES DOT AHL PLAYOFF ROSTERS: The Cyclones have 14 former players on the American Hockey League 'Clear Day Period' lists. Only players on the Clear Day Period lists are eligible to compete in the AHL's Calder Cup playoffs unless emergency situations exist. Five former Cyclones are on the Hamilton Bulldogs list: David Desharnais, Cedrick Desjardins, Ryan Russell, Frederic St. Denis and J.T. Wyman. The Milwaukee Admirals have four former Cincinnati players: Mark Dekanich, Mark Matheson, Chris Mueller and Mark Santorelli. Other former Cyclones eligible to participate in the Calder Cup playoffs are: Jimmy Bonneau (Rochester), Jean-Michel Daoust (Houston), Jon Gleed (Bridgeport), Kyle Rank (Portland) and Greg Stewart (Chicago).

COGHLAN REACHES A MILESTONE: The game at Gwinnett on March 8 was the 100th in the professional career of Jamie Coghlan. The second year defenseman from Toronto, has a goal and three assists for four points on the year. His biggest contribution has been his +14 rating--including a +8 effort in February. Coghlan is one of two players currently active in the ECHL (Chris Murray of Trenton is the other) that is in double figures in the plus category and a single digit in points.

AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW...: The Cyclones are 12-4-2 (.722 winning percentage) since February 1. The club has collected an American Conference-high 39 wins. It is the second-fastest in team history that the club has reached 39 victories. The 2008-09 Kelly Cup championship team won the 39th game on February 22 and notched the 40th win on February 23. 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. The club is currently tied with the 1995-96 Louisville team for third-most in team history.

WINNERS AT HOME...: The Cyclones have won 20 games on home ice this season, the third-most by any team in the American Conference and seventh-most in the ECHL. Cincinnati is 8-1-2 in the last eleven contests at U.S. Bank Arena, dating back to January 25.

WINNERS ON THE ROAD TOO...: The Cyclones won their 19th away game of the season in the triumph at Elmira on Saturday night. That gives Cincinnati the most in the American Conference and second-most in the league (Idaho has 21). The Cyclones are 15-6 (.714 winning percentage) away from U.S. Bank Arena since Nov. 29.

ROAD WARRIORS: Since the start of the 2007-08 campaign, the Cyclones have more wins and a better win percentage on the road than any other team in the ECHL. Cincinnati has a 67-33-4 record (.663 winning percentage). The squad is an away triumph shy of making it three consecutive seasons with 20 or more road wins in a campaign.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones claimed a 4-3 overtime win at Elmira. Ryan Del Monte redirected a Brett Robinson pass at 4:09 of overtime for his eighth goal of the season. Cincinnati claimed its fourth lead of the night and took its first win of the season (in three tries) at First Arena. Barret Ehgoetz had a goal and an assist, while Jimmy Kilpatrick and Brian O'Hanley each had a pair of assists. Robert Mayer turned away 25 saves to pick up his 18th victory of the year.

CLUB RECORD REACHED: When Ian McKenzie opened the scoring Saturday night with a shorthanded goal--it established a team record for man-disadvantage goals in a season. The Cyclones have a league-high and team record 15 shorthanded goals. Twice previously, the squad had reached 14 shorthanded goals in a season. Last year, South Carolina led the ECHL with 18 shorthanded goals.

GOALIES ARE GOOD: The Cyclones goaltending tandem of Robert Mayer and Jeremy Smith have the second-best goals against average in the ECHL at 2.75. Mayer ranks fifth in the league in goals against average at 2.79, while Smith ranks second at 2.62. Smith is fifth in wins with 18, while Mayer is eighth with 17. The pair are each tied for sixth in the ECHL with two shutouts apiece.

CHUCK MOVES UP: While the ECHL league mediaguide does not keep it as an official statistic, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber nearly reached another milestone with the win over Elmira on March 13. Through the first four full seasons of coaching in their career, Weber has moved into fourth place on the wins list with 172 (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.

TOTAL RECALL: The Cyclones 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 March 4 and Lacroix returned this week. This season, a total of sixteen Cyclones players have been promoted a total of 25 times. More than 190 games have been played by men who have represented Cincinnati this season at the AHL level. More than 220 man-games have been lost to the Cyclones as a result of these advancements.

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 30.4 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.

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 76 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 330 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 Wednesday, March 17.

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. This week, forward Maxime Lacroix will join Head Coach Chuck Weber and show host Nick Brunker at the show.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics

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



ECHL Stories from March 15, 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