ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Win Fourth Straight, Conquering Gladiators 4-3

March 15, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


DULUTH, GA - The Cincinnati Cyclones (29-25-6-3) weathered a flurry of late chances by the Gwinnett Gladiators (29-27-2-5) in the final minutes and hung on to win by a 4-3 final score at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Tuesday night. With the victory, the Cyclones earned their fourth consecutive win and now own the eighth place spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

Cincinnati lit the lamp first when Barret Ehgoetz caught a beautiful backhanded pass from Dustin Sproat and buried his 15th goal of the season to put Cincinnati up 1-0 at the 5:38 mark. However, exactly two minutes later, Gwinnett's Matt Francis intercepted an outlet pass and sniped home his third tally of the year - knotting things at one. Just a few minutes before the break, at 17:14, Ehgoetz struck through the Gwinnett zone and fed Brady Calla with a tape-to-tape pass and he easily potted it behind Gladiators goalie Chris Carrozzi (L, 34 saves, 16-15-1-2). With the tally, it extended Calla's season-long point streak to five games and gave the Cyclones a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

Just 2:34 into the middle frame, Jake Hauswirth fought off a strong stick check and let loose a laser-accurate wrist shot that beat Carrozzi over his glove-side shoulder for a 3-1 Cyclones lead. The rest of the second period saw several more good chances for both sides, but Cyclones netminder Brian Foster (W, 33 saves, 7-3-0) held the Gladiators scoreless in the middle frame to preserve the lead after 40 minutes.

Early in the third, Cincinnati grabbed what looked to be a strangle-hold on the game when Mike Liambas netted his first goal as a Cyclone just 2:47 in. However, the Gladiators would climb back to make it a game of things; at 10:01 Devin Timberlake snuck into the slot and batted a loose puck through the legs of Foster, cutting the Gwinnett deficit to two. Then, at 16:22, Matt Duffy blasted home a power play goal from just inside the left point to pull within a goal in the final minutes. After Gwinnett pulled its goalie, the Gladiators had several dangerous chances in the Cincinnati zone with the extra attacker. However, Foster made several more crucial saves as time wound down and the Cyclones hung on to win by a 4-3 score.

The Cyclones Radio Network Three Stars of the Game are as follows:

1. Barret Ehgoetz (1 goal, 2 assists for Cincinnati)

2. Brian Foster (Winning goaltender, 33 saves for Cincinnati)

3. Matt Francis (1 goal, 1 assist for Gwinnett)

Cincinnati will enter the final stretch of this seven-game road trip on Thursday night with the opener of three against the Greenville Road Warriors at 7:05pm. Fans can hear all the action from the BI-LO Center on the Cyclones Radio Network starting at 6:50pm.

The defending Kelly Cup Champions will return to U.S. Bank Arena on Friday, March 25 when they host the Toledo Walleye at 7:30pm. It will be the final Kids Eat Free Night of the season, as all fans ages 2-12 will receive a FREE meal courtesy of John Morrell, Sunkist, and Sun Drop. 2010-11 single game and discounted group tickets are available now. 2011-12 season tickets are on sale NOW! For more information, call 513.421.PUCK (7825) or visit CyclonesHockey.com.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 15, 2011


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