ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Run Win Streak To Three

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


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, play four games this week--including a pair at U.S. Bank Arena. Wednesday night (Feb. 10), Kalamazoo comes to town on a Wet Wednesday at 7:30pm. Friday (Feb. 12), the club heads to Toledo for a 7pm contest that will be carried on 1530 Homer - The Sports Animal. Saturday (Feb. 13), Johnstown comes to town on 'Barret Ehgoetz Kids Replica Jersey T-Shirt Night' at 7:30pm. The teams meet again on Sunday night (Feb. 14) at the Cambria County War Memorial.

CHUCK MOVES UP: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber reached another milestone with Friday night's win over Kalamazoo. The triumph was his 163rd regular season win, which pushed him past Greg Puhalski for ninth-most through the first four full seasons of coaching. He is a win shy of tying current St. Louis Blues coach Davis Payne (164) for eighth-most. Weber's 133 triumphs through his first three campaigns were fourth-most in league history.

EHGOETZ NEARS TOP SPOT: The Cincinnati Cyclones all-time point lead has been held for more than a decade now by Sheldon Gorski. While Gorski never played a game in the Queen City (his career was spent when the team was in Louisville), he amassed 213 points for the club. Barret Ehgoetz tied Gorski for the record this past week. The fifth year forward has 75 goals and 137 assists in his career with the Cyclones.

ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones rallied to claim a 3-2 shootout win over Kalamazoo. Dustin Sproat and Brett Robinson scored the goals in regulation time and a last minute goal by the Wings forced overtime and a shootout. After Kalamazoo scored on its first two shots of the shootout, the Cyclones responded by netting four consecutive scores to take the triumph. Matt Pierce, Mark Voakes, Scott Reynolds and Barret Ehgoetz scored in the extra session to grab the win. Jeremy Smith stopped 34 shots in regulation and overtime and then stonewalled three of six shooters in the shootout.

ABOUT THURSDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones exploded for three first period goals and never looked back in a 6-3 demolition of the defending Kelly Cup champion South Carolina Stingrays. Maxime Lacroix led the charge against his former team with a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Brett Robinson matched the effort with a pair of lamplighters and a pair of helpers and Matt Pierce chipped in with a goal and two assists. Robert Mayer turned away 20 shots in collecting his 13th win.

PIERCE TIES CLUB RECORD: Cyclones rookie forward Matt Pierce tied a club record in the 6-3 win Thursday night over South Carolina. The Amprior, ON native finished the game +5, which ties him with Greg Labenski for the best in team history. Pierce missed out on a plus on the opening goal, but was on the ice for each of Cincinnati's last five goals. Labenski set the mark on December 27, 2002 by turning in his +5 in a 13-2 wrecking of Reading. Even more impressive for Labenski was the fact that seven of the 13 goals were on the power play.

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 33 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 294 days at the top are the most by any North Division team over the past four seasons. The club will hold the top spot until at least Friday night.

LOG JAM!: First through fourth place in the North Division are separated by just eight points, making it the closest divisional race in the ECHL. If the Kelly Cup playoffs began today--all four teams in the North would qualify for the postseason. Last year, the second-closest divisional racewas in the Pacific Division, where first and fourth place were decided by eleven points. The top four teams in the North (of seven teams) were seven points apart a year ago. Tight races in the North Division are not anything new. The top four have been within seven points of one another in three of the past six years.

THIRTEEN OVER!: Friday night's win moved the Cyclones to thirteen games above the break even point for the first time this season (30-17-1). On the first try at thirteen over--the club made it. The last time the Cyclones have been further than thirteen games over the break even point was at the end of last season when the squad was 15 above at 41-26-5.

GUNNING FOR 30: With the win Friday night, the Cyclones hit 30 wins--second-fastest in team history. The fastest to 30 wins was during 2007-08, when the squad won on February 1.

THE AHL LOVES THE CYCLONES: Friday morning, Maxime Lacroix was recalled by the Hamilton Bulldogs. After Friday's game, the Houston Aeros were loaned Matt Pierce and Brock Sheahan. With the assignments to the American Hockey League, a total of 15 Cyclones players have earned promotions through 21 different recalls. Cincinnati has lost 165 man-games due to participation in the AHL.

IT'S MAGIC...: While it is a bit early to be looking at playoff matchups and possible scenarios--the Cyclones do have a 'magic number' of 41 to qualifying for an American Conference Kelly Cup berth. Cincinnati would need to finish with more points than any four of the following to make the field (possible points in brackets): Johnstown (84), Trenton (91), Reading (100), Gwinnett (101), Wheeling (101), Florida (102) and Elmira (105).

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 17 games in the 2010 calendar year, Brian has five goals and nine assists for 14 points.

MORE O'HANLEY: Cyclones defenseman Brian O'Hanley has also moved into fourth place in the ECHL among defensemen with a +16 plus/minus rating. O'Hanley has been even or better in 33 of his 44 games this season and is +11 in the 16 games since New Year's Eve.

ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones upended Wheeling, 3-2, at U.S. Bank Arena. Maxime Lacroix had a power play goal and scored the game winner with a shorthanded effort. Jeremy Smith re-directed 31 shots to take the victory.

DEFENSE SOLID: The Cyclones have a 2.81 goals against average, second-best in the ECHL. Cincinnati is allowing just 26.8 shots per game--again, second-best in the ECHL. The penalty kill ranks twelfth in the league at 82.0 percent, while the club leads the league with thirteen shorthanded goals.

GETTING SHORTY: The Cyclones lead the ECHL with 13 shorthanded goals--three more than Toledo. The club record for shorthanded goals in a season is 14.

POWER SURGE: The Cyclones enjoyed an improvement on the power play during the month of January, having scored man-advantage goals in eleven of the 14 games. Cincinnati punched its ticket on 16 of 88 power play chances (18.2 percent), moving from 18th in the standings in the statistic--up three spots to 15th.

PRETTY GOOD: The Cyclones (current record: 30-17-1) have the second-most standings points (61) that they have had through 48 games in team history. Through 48 games of 2007-08, the club posted a 37-8-3 record (77 points). The 1995-96 club from Louisville (27-17-4) previously held the second-best mark with 58 points through 48 games. It is also the second-fastest period of time in team history to 30 wins.

NOT AFRAID OF A LITTLE OVERTIME: The Cyclones lead the ECHL in winning percentage in overtime. Cincinnati has won six of the seven contests that have extended past regulation time in 2009-10. The club is 2-0 in overtime games, including the 3-2 triumph over South Carolina on January 29. The squad is 4-1 in shootouts. Of teams at the 'AA' level or higher, the Cyclones have the best winning percentage at.857. Grand Rapids (AHL) is second at.833.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS STRONG: The Cyclones are averaging 3474 per game through the first 24 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 January 23rd crowd of 6485 was the third-largest of the season and 15th biggest in team history. Friday night's gate of 5857 was the 19th biggest in the record book. Attendance at Cyclones games is up 11.9 percent over last year's season average and is up 28.8 percent over the first 24 home games of a year ago. The club has drawn 83,375 through the turnstiles after 24 home games. Last season, the club did not draw that many people through the first 29 games (February 27, 2009).

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 51st on that list.

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. This week, goaltender Robert Mayer and defenseman Patrick Prokop will be the special guests.

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ECHL Stories from February 8, 2010


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