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ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Win Second Straight North Division Title

April 4, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Cincinnati Cyclones claimed their second straight North Division championship with a 6-0 win over the Johnstown Chiefs on Saturday night. Gerard Miller and Felix Petit each netted a goal and had an assist to pace the offense. Ryan Nie picked up his third shutout of the season, stopping 30 shots.

The Cyclones opened a 2-0 lead with a pair of five-on-three power plays less than a minute apart in the first period. At 16:07, Gerard Miller snapped off his third goal from the slot from Mike Salekin and Mark Van Guilder. Just 52 seconds later at 16:59, Matt Syroczynski netted his 26th goal of the year from the left goal post as Jimmy Kilpatrick and Miller added the helpers. Cincinnati had four power play chances in the opening frame. The shots on goal favored Cincinnati, 13-8.

The Cyclones got the only goal of the second period when Jimmy Kilpatrick shot his 23rd goal of the season just inside the left post past All-Star goaltender Kris Mayotte. Dustin Sproat fed the puck out of the right corner and Jake Dietrich had the other assist. The shots on goal favored Cincinnati, 13-9, in the period.

The Cyclones exploded for three third period goals to put the game away. Kilpatrick collected his second of the night and 24th of the year at 4:08. Dustin Sproat and Jake Dietrich handed out the assists. At 8:59, Felix Petit, playing in his third pro game, fire home his first professional goal from Mac Faulkner and Matt Dias. At 18:00, Dias netted his first as a Cyclone-on the power play-from Petit and Faulkner. The shots on goal favored Cincinnati, 16-13, in the period. For the game, Cincinnati outshot the Chiefs, 42-30.

Ryan Nie picked up the win for Cincinnati, stopping all 30 shots for his 16th win with the club. It was Nie's 13th pro shutout, his sixth in the ECHL and his third as a Cyclone. Kris Mayotte took the loss, stopping 36 of the 42 shots he faced.

With the victory, the Cyclones secured home ice advantage in the first two rounds of the Kelly Cup playoffs. Cincinnati will host games one and two of the best of seven North Division semifinals against Wheeling. Those games will be played on Thursday, April 9 and Friday, April 10 at U.S. Bank Arena, 7:30pm each night. Games three, four and five, if needed, will be played at WesBanco Arena. A full announcement of the Wheeling series will be provided later this evening. Games six and seven, if needed, would be played at U.S. Bank Arena between April 18 and 20.

The Cyclones and Trenton finished tied for the North Division lead with 87 points each. Cincinnati's 41 wins are one more than Trenton's 40 and gives the club the top seed. Elmira is the third seed with 85 points and Wheeling finishes in the fourth spot with 80 points. Johnstown misses the playoffs despite having 78 points. It is the closest divisional race in the 21 year history of the ECHL.

The Cyclones are now 41-26-5 on the season, while Johnstown is 37-30-5. The Cyclones begin defense of their Kelly Cup playoff championship on Thursday night (April 9) against Wheeling at U.S. Bank Arena at 7:30pm.

The crowd of 11,417 was the biggest for a regular season game in Cyclones history, eclipsing the mark of 9615 for the home finale last season against Elmira (March 28, 2008). It was the second-largest crowd to ever witness a Cyclones game between the regular season and playoffs (Game Six of the Kelly Cup Finals had 12,722 on June 5, 2008). It was the third-highest attendance for an ECHL game this season.

With the crowd of 11,417, the Cyclones are averaging 23.1 percent more fans than 2007-08 through 36 home games. That is the second-largest improvement from last year through 36 games of any professional hockey team in North America (Tulsa-CHL is up 28.9%). Last year, Cincinnati's season attendance improved 36.8 percent over 2006-07-the biggest increase in all of professional hockey. The Cyclones are averaging 3104 per game this season, having welcomed 111,750 fans.

Tickets for the 2009-10 Cincinnati Cyclones season are now on sale. The Cyclones Sales Department can be reached at 513-421-PUCK, extension 3. For the latest news, notes and information on the team, visit: www.cycloneshockey.com . Ask about the Family Four Pack (four tickets, four hot dogs, four Pepsis, four Cyclones winter hats, four public skate passes at SportsPlus and a SportsPlus game card) for just $69!

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