ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Weekly News

March 26, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones (35-25-3-2) play four games this week, as they close in on a North Division playoff berth. The Cyclones trail Dayton by one point at the start of play this week. Cincinnati has a home game with Johnstown on Tuesday morning (March 27) at 10:30am, before heading off to Wheeling for games Friday (March 30) and Saturday (March 31). The week ends with a Sunday tilt (April 1) at Johnstown.

EDUCATION IN HOCKEY DAY GAME NEXT: The Cyclones next home game is tomorrow (March 27) when the Education In Hockey Day game is played at 10:30am. More than 3500 students from the area are expected to attend, learning about how a hockey team and an ice rink tie into education. Tickets will be available at the gate.

MAGIC NUMBER: The Cyclones, the second place team in the North Division, have a 'magic number' of two to make the Kelly Cup playoffs. A Cincinnati game won or losses by both Johnstown and Wheeling--qualifies the Cyclones for the Kelly Cup playoffs for the first time since the spring of 2003.

THE PLAYOFF SKINNY: The top five teams in the North Division will qualify for the Kelly Cup playoffs. The top three teams will receive first round byes, while the fourth and fifth seeds will play a best-of-three series starting no earlier than April 9. The winner of that series will meet the number one seed, while the second and third seeds battles in a best-of-five series beginning no earlier than April 13. The winner of those two series collide in the Divisional Finals in a best-of-seven series. The Division champion advances to the American Conference finals and meets the South Division winner in a best-of-seven. The winner of that runs into the National Conference champion in a best-of-seven for the Kelly Cup.

WEBER ASSEMBLING SOLID ROOKIE SEASON: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has assembled the best winning percentage of any rookie coach in the ECHL. Weber has directed Cincinnati to a 35-25-3-2 record (.590 winning percentage). That is .062 percent and three wins more than Rick Kowalsky, the Trenton coach.

QUICK STRIKE CAPABILITY: The Cincinnati Cyclones have scored the opening goal of the game in eight of the nine contests since returning from their California trip (March 5). In those eight games, an elapsed time of 48:06 has occurred on the scores. That means it has taken the Cyclones an average time of 6:01 to get the first goal of the game. This season, Cincinnati has scored in the first six minutes in 20 of the 65 games played.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES...: The Cincinnati Cyclones have had nine players recalled to the American Hockey League (AHL) during the course of this season. Cincinnati has lost a total of 197 man-games due to recall, the equivalent of losing two and a half players for the entire season. At this moment, five players are in the AHL, Jimmy Bonneau, Jon Gleed and Cory Urquhart are with Hamilton, Rory Rawlyk is with Binghamton and Dov Grumet-Morris is with Manitoba.

MORE CH-CH-CH-CHANGES...: Due to the call-ups and injuries that have occurred this season, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has used 39 different lineups over the 65 games thus far. The most popular of these lineups has only played together a total of six times.

ABOUT LAST WEEK...: The Cyclones went 1-2 last week, dropping a 4-2 decision vs. Wheeling on Tuesday (March 20). Saturday (March 24), the Cyclones claimed a 5-2 win at Trenton. Barett Ehgoetz, Mike Wirll and Travis Lisabeth all had two point games in the triumph. Sunday (March 25), Trenton picked up a 5-2 win over Cincinnati.

BAD, BAD BOYS, YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO GOOD...: The Cyclones, who two weeks were the fifth-most penalized team in the ECHL (averaging 24.6 minutes per game), have been called for just 86 minutes in penalties in the seven games since then. Despite this recent docile stretch, Cincinnati remains the league's fifth-most penalized team and has the second-most major penalties (usually associated with fighting) on the circuit with 70.

HE'S ON A WIRLL: Cyclones forward Mike Wirll leads the ECHL in goal scoring with 44, eight more than Mike Pandolfo of the Trenton Titans. Wirll has scored 13 times as a member of the Cincinnati squad since being acquired from Pensacola on Valentine's Day.

MAKE THAT THEY ARE ALL ON A WIRLL: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber put center Barett Ehgoetz in the middle of wingers Travis Lisabeth and Mike Wirll after acquiring the pair from Pensacola on Valentine's Day. The trio have scored 25 of Cincinnati's 63 goals (38.8 percent) since being joined together.

HOME, SWEET HOME: The Cyclones are 16-5-4 (.720 winning percentage) at U.S. Bank Arena since Nov. 18...Cincinnati is 11-1-3 in games played on the weekends (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) during this stretch of games (.833 winning percentage)...The Cyclones have an overall mark of 18-8-4 (.667) in all games played against North Division opponents this season at U.S. Bank Arena.

WE WERE THERE A WHILE...: The Cyclones began the week as the leaders of the North Division. Until Friday night (March 23), the club had led the division every day since Dec. 23 (that's 90 days in a row, for those of you following along), a total of more than twelve weeks. It is the longest stretch a Cincinnati pro sports team has been in first place since the Cincinnati Reds (MLB) 1990 wire-to-wire run in winning the World Series. The Cyclones have been in first place 91 of the past 93 days.

DICKMANN'S MONDAY NIGHTS: Every Monday during the season, Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber and selected players will be at Dickmann's Sports Cafe (879 Orphanage Rd.--Ft. Wright, KY) from 7-8pm. There will not be a player appearing at this week's show due to the early start of Tuesday's game.

WWW.CYCLONESHOCKEY.COM: The most up-to-date information and broadcast of the games can be found on our website www.cycloneshockey.com.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 26, 2007


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