ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Up Two Games to None Over Stingrays

Published on May 12, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones (55-12-5) play the third game of the best of seven series Wednesday against the South Carolina Stingrays (47-22-3) for the American Conference championship. The winner of this series will face the winner of the National Conference (either Las Vegas or Utah) for the Kelly Cup championship. The Kelly Cup Finals will begin Memorial Day weekend.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT...: Down 3-0 at the start of the third period, the Cyclones rallied for four third period goals to force overtime against South Carolina. Thomas Beauregard's goal at 4:52 of the fourth session ended the contest. Max Daigneault entered the game when Cincinnati fell behind 3-0 and stopped 14 of 15 shots in collecting his fifth win of the postseason.

ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT...: The Cyclones won the opening game of the series with South Carolina, 6-2. David Desharnais scored two goals and added two assists for four points. Matt Macdonald had a goal and two assists as well. Cedrick Desjardins turned aside 25 shots in the triumph.

ABOUT MONDAY NIGHT...(Game Seven): The Cyclones claimed a 6-1 win over Reading to capture the North Division playoff championship. Mathieu Aubin and Jason Deitsch each scored a goal and handed out two assists in the triumph. Cedrick Desjardins stopped 30 shots in collecting the win.

SATURDAY'S HEROICS: The Cyclones rallied from a three goal deficit for the first time under Head Coach Chuck Weber on Saturday night in the win. It was also the first time that the Cyclones have pulled the goaltender under Weber in the final seconds of a game and scored a goal. It was also the first time under Weber that the team had played an overtime game.

SIXTY-FIVE WINS: The Cyclones won 55 games during the regular season and have already collected ten triumphs in the Kelly Cup playoffs. With 65 wins, Cincinnati is the second winningest team in ECHL history between the regular season and playoffs. Alaska (2005-06) won a league-record 69 games between the regular season and playoffs to establish the mark. Head Coach Chuck Weber is the first person to be connected to two 60-plus win teams (he was an assistant with the 2001-02 squad).

SEVENTH HEAVEN: The Cyclones win on Monday marked the first time in club history that the club won the seventh game of a playoff series. Cincinnati has now played in an ECHL-high three seventh games. Last season, Dayton took the seventh game and completed a rally from a three games to one deficit (5-3 in the game). The other time was during the 2002-03 season in the American Conference Finals--losing in overtime to Atlantic City in that seventh contest. That was the 13th game seven in ECHL history. The home team has won nine of these contests (75 percent).

CYCLONES AMONG LEADERS: Forward David Desharnais leads all players in the Kelly Cup playoffs in scoring with 19 points...Olivier Latendresse is second with 17 points...Thomas Beauregard ranks fifth in scoring with 15 points...Desharnais leads the league in assists with twelve...Beauregard's four game winning goals are most in the league...Max Daigneault has a 2.38 goals against average, ninth-best in the league...The Cyclones have scored 13 first period goals, second-most in the ECHL, 16 goals in the second period, also second-most, and 19 third period goals--which is...also, second-most in the ECHL...Cincinnati has the ECHL's best record (9-0) when leading after two periods of play.

BIG CROWDS PROVIDE ADVANTAGE!: A total of 8323 witnessed the Cyclones pair of games the opening weekend of the playoffs. That was the highest two game total by one team in a North Division semifinals series in the ECHL since 1999--when 9342 turned out for the opening games of the Richmond at Hampton Roads round. During the Conference Finals this past weekend, the crowd of 5210 Friday night was the biggest to see a Kelly Cup playoff game in team history. The postseason average of 3249 fans is the tenth-best in the ECHL and is 28.7 percent larger than the Cyclones regular season average of 2524. The Cyclones are one of three teams in the ECHL to increase their average attendance in the postseason, as Victoria (20.3 percent) and Alaska (2.3) are the others.

OVERCROWDING: The Cyclones have been responsible for three of the four biggest crowds in the American Conference playoffs. The 5210 on Friday night was the seventh-largest in the postseason and biggest among American Conference teams so far. Elmira and Reading welcomed 4887 for their April 13 game and the Cyclones have also had two other crowds over 4800. Every Friday and Saturday night crowd at U.S. Bank Arena during the Kelly Cup playoffs has been in excess of 4800.

CYCLONES AND RECORDS: David Desharnais holds the Cyclones playoff season record for scoring with 19 points...Thomas Beauregard has eight goals in the Kelly Cup playoffs this season, two shy of the club record for goals in a postseason...T.J. McElroy, Olivier Latendresse and Chad Starling are all +8 in the plus/minus category this postseason--best in club history...Jason Deitsch holds the club record for career playoff points with 25...Mathieu Aubin holds the club record for playoff goals with eleven...Matt Macdonald holds the team record for career playoff penalty minutes with 48...Latendresse and McElroy hold the Cyclones career record for plus/minus at +8...Cedrick Desjardins holds the club career records for wins (11), games (18), saves (474), shutouts (two) and minutes played (1047)...Cincinnati is 6-0 when Beauregard scores a goal...Cincinnati is 8-0 when Barret Ehgoetz has a point.

BRABHAM CUP COMES TO CINCINNATI!: The Cyclones claimed their first-ever Brabham Cup on April 5. The Brabham Cup is annually presented to the ECHL club with the league's best record. Cincinnati finished the season with 115 points--tied with Texas for most in the ECHL. However, because the Cyclones collected 55 wins to the 52 accumulated by Texas, Cincinnati takes the trophy on the first tie-breaker. As a result, the Cyclones will have home ice advantage in all playoff series during the duration of their stay in the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Brabham Cup and numerous other trophies earned by the Cyclones are on display at Kelly Cup playoff games at U.S. Bank Arena during games for fans to see and photograph.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Cyclones won 26 games away from U.S. Bank Arena during the regular season, tying the record for most in ECHL history. The league record of 26 was set by Louisiana in 2001-02 and matched by Cincinnati and Texas this year. In the Kelly Cup playoffs, the Cyclones have continued their road excellence--posting a 4-1 mark in the postseason. The 30 wins away from U.S. Bank Arena during the regular season and playoffs is the most ever by an ECHL club. Cincinnati is one of five teams with a league-best four road wins in the playoffs.

DESHARNAIS NAMED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Cincinnati Cyclones forward David Desharnais was named the ECHL's Rookie of the Year on April 6 in a vote of the league's coaches. Desharnais led the ECHL in scoring during his debut season, amassing 29 goals and 77 assists for 106 points. David claimed the league's Rookie of the Month award three times during the campaign to establish an ECHL record. On April 8, he was selected to the All-ECHL first team.

STEWART MAKES IT TO NHL!: The Montreal Canadiens recalled Greg Stewart from Hamilton (AHL) last week and he played in the game April 5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Stewart becomes the first player under Head Coach Chuck Weber to come through Cincinnati on his way to the NHL. Greg appeared in 62 games for Cincinnati last season (2006-07), collecting eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points and 126 penalty minutes.

WINS EQUAL POINTS...: The Cyclones amassed 115 standings points in the regular season, tied for second-most in ECHL history with Texas (2007-08). Only Louisiana (116 points in 2001-02) has recorded more.

DIVISION CHAMPS!: For the first time in team history, the Cyclones claimed a division title on March 17 in a 3-2 win over Johnstown. Cincinnati native Jason Deitsch collected his tenth goal of the season with 10:07 to play to give the Cyclones the triumph. Max Daigneault slammed the door shut, stopping 26 shots in collecting his tenth win.

HALF A CENTURY!: The Cyclones became only the tenth team in ECHL history--and the fourth in Cincinnati's pro hockey history -- to register 50 wins with the triumph March 22 at Wheeling. The Cyclones surpassed the 1972-73 Cincinnati Swords (AHL--54 wins) for most in the city's pro hockey history. The Swords won the Calder Cup that season.

DID SOMEONE SAY ‘COMEBACK'?: The Cyclones picked up their 25th come-from-behind victory of the season on March 31 at Reading. Cincinnati has picked up 25 wins and has taken five other games to overtime or shootouts before dropping the decision. The 55 points gained in the standings is nearly half of the club's total for the year. Including the two comback wins in the postseason, that number is 27 heading into the games at South Carolina.

STREAK TO REMEMBER: The loss on March 13 against Trenton ended a 14-game home winning streak for the Cyclones, who outscored the opposition, 64-36, during that run. The winning streak started on Jan. 5. The loss also ended a 20-0-2 run for Cincinnati at U.S. Bank Arena. Starting with a win over Elmira on Mov. 28, the club went more than 15 weeks without a regulation time loss at the facility. The team outscored the opponent, 103-52 during that time.

THEY ARE CATCHING ON: The Cyclones drew a club-record 9615 for the March 28 game against Elmira, the sixth time this season that the club has exceeded 5000 in attendance for a game-five of these have happened since the start of the new calendar year. U.S. Bank Arena has had an average of 2523 check out the Cyclones through 36 home dates, an increase of 36.8 percent in attendance through an equal number of dates from a year ago. The last time the Cyclones had six or more crowds of 5000 in a season was back during 2002-03, when the club had it happen eight times. In the 20 games at U.S. Bank Arena since January 1, the Cyclones are averaging 3078 fans per contest.

DESHARNAIS DETAILS...: Cyclones center David Desharnais is the 16th rookie in ECHL history to reach 100 points in a season and the first since Dany Bousquet, who played for Birmingham in 1996-97 (68 gp, 54-53-107). That Birmingham team was the original Cyclones club (1990-92), that moved when the IHL rolled into town. Bousquet would begin the following season with the IHL Cyclones (1997-98), appearing in the first two games--including the club's first-ever game at The Crown (now U.S. Bank Arena)--before being returned to Birmingham. Desharnais has 102 points, twelfth-most in league history.

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