ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Home and Home with Wheeling Highlights The Week

Published on October 19, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, plays a pair of games this week--inlcuding their home opener. Friday night (Oct. 23) the club is at Wheeling for a 7:30pm clash. Saturday (Oct. 24), the teams come to U.S. Bank Arena to lift the curtain for home games in Cincinnati. That is also a 7:30pm start time.

HOME OPENER: The Cyclones will open their eleventh campaign on Saturday night when Wheeling comes to town for a 7:30pm showdown. It will be the first time the squads have met in Cincinnati since Game Seven of the North Division semifinals last May. The Cyclones will unfurl another North Division championship banner in a special pregame ceremony. Fans will also be able to purchase John Morrell hot dogs for one dollar apiece all night.

CHECKING OUT THE GAME: Friday's game at Elmira will be carried on 1530-AM Homer - The Sports Animal. A special Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show will be edited into a pregame format and the drop of the puck is at 7:30pm. Saturday's game--like all 72 regular season games--will be carried on the club's website at www.cycloneshockey.com.

WEEK IN REWIND...: The Cyclones opened the 2009-10 season in Elmira on Friday night (Oct. 16) and dropped a 5-2 decision. Matt Pierce and Mike McLean scored the goals in a contest where Cincinnati never led. Saturday night (Oct. 17), the Cyclones utilized shorthanded goals from Doug Krantz and Chris Mueller paced the club to a 2-0 win at Johnstown.

SMITH ENJOYS SATURDAY: Rookie goaltender Jeremy Smith stopped all 22 shots in the 2-0 win at Johnstown on Saturday. It was the first game of his professional career and the triumph came against the starting goaltender (Kris Mayotte) for the American Conference at the All-Star Game a year ago. He is a candidate for ECHL Goaltender of the Week.

BLANK YOU VERY MUCH: The shutout by Jeremy Smith extends the Cyclones shutout streak against Johnstown to 152:16. Last season, Cincinnati blanked Johnstown, 3-0, in the regular season finale. The last time the Chiefs notched a goal versus Cincinnati was three games ago (April 3) when Andy Contois netted a power play goal 12:55 into the second period.

BRING ON THE NAILERS!: The Cyclones have a 32-32-4 record versus Wheeling all-time and the clubs met in the opening round of the North Division playoffs in 2008-09. Cincinnati turned in a 5-6 mark again the Nailers in the regular season and after winning the regular season division title won the epic seven game struggle with a double overtime goal in the seventh game from Matt Syroczynski.

WE'RE ONLY AT HOME WHEN WE ARE ON THE ROAD...: During the seven game playoff series with Wheeling, the road team won six games--before Cincinnati ended the stretch in the seventh game. In the 18 games (regular season and playoffs) between the teams last year, the road club took the triumph in twelve of the matchups.

HOMECOMING: The Cyclones have three players that were on the Wheeling roster a year ago, with the squad this year. Defensemen Reid Cashman, Doug Krantz and Brock Sheahan will all be making their first appearance against their former club. Thomas Beauregard, who played for Cincinnati the past two seasons--is under contract with Wheeling in 2009-10.

DID NOT TAKE LONG...: The Cyclones have already had their first player signed by the American Hockey League (AHL). Defenseman Kevin Roeder was taken by Syracuse on Saturday morning. He becomes the first player with Cincinnati to move up to the AHL. Last season, a total of 18 players were pulled up by clubs.

IT OPENED AN OPPORTUNITY: The recall of Kevin Roeder opened a door for another Cyclones player to the lineup. Doug Krantz was a healthy scratch on Friday night, but took Roeder's vacated spot Saturday. Krantz scored a shorthanded goal in the second period that proved to be the game winner in the 2-0 triumph.

STATISTICALLY...: The Cyclones are currently tied for the sixth seed in the American Conference playoff picture...Cincinnati is one of three teams to lead the ECHL in penalty kill percentage at 100 percent with ten kills...The Cyclones and Alaska are tied with the league lead in shorthanded goals with two each...Jeremy Smith leads the league in goals against average (0.00), shutouts (one) and save percentage (100.0).

WEBER TO LEAD THEM AGAIN: The Cyclones will once again be led by Head Coach Chuck Weber. Now in his fourth season, Weber has compiled a 134-68-16 record (.652 winning percentage). Chuck led the Cyclones to the 2008 Kelly Cup championship--netting a club record 55 wins during the run. The 71 victories between the regular season and playoffs is also a club high water mark. The 133 wins in his first three seasons is the fourth-highest win total by an ECHL coach in his first three seasons--just five fewer than Dave Farrish had in his first three campaigns (138). Farrish also holds the mark for most wins in his first four seasons with 186.

DIVISIONAL ALIGNMENT: There are 20 teams in the ECHL this season, twelve in the American Conference and eight in the National Conference. The Cyclones are one of the teams in the American Conference, which is broken into three divisions each consisting of four teams. Cincinnati is in the North Division--which it has won in consecutive years--with Kalamazoo, Toledo and Wheeling. The East Division has Elmira, Johnstown, Reading and Trenton. The South Division is comprised of Charlotte, Florida, Gwinnett and South Carolina.

PLAYOFFS? WE'RE TALKING PLAYOFFS!: The American Conference will send its top eight teams to the Kelly Cup playoffs in April. The three division winners (East, North and South) will be seeded as the top three clubs, regardless of overall ranking in the conference. The next five highest point totals will be seeded fourth through eighth. The opening round of the playoffs will best a best-of-five. Matchups comprising teams within 350 miles of one another can play a two-two-one or alternating game series. Matchups over 350 miles in distance will have the higher seed deciding whether to play the first two or final games of the series on home ice. Starting with the Conference semifinals it becomes a best-of-seven matchup. The American and National Conferences meet in the Kelly Cup Finals during the end of May.

GOT THE TENT STAKES?: The Cyclones sent 18 players to American Hockey League camps during training sessions--the most of any team in the ECHL. Cincinnati has been a steady provider of players to the AHL over the past couple of seasons. A year ago, 16 players were recalled from the Queen City to AHL teams--including nine players that signed with the club. Over the past two campaigns, 40 players have been taken by the American Hockey League--including 18 that were signed initially by Chuck Weber.

ATTENDANCE KEEPS GROWING AND GROWING: Last season, the Cyclones enjoyed a 23 percent attendance growth--the second-largest in minor professional hockey. That came on the heels of a 36.8 percent increase to lead all of minor pro hockey in 2007-08. Cincinnati has the biggest percentage increase in attendance of any minor pro team since the end of the 2006-07 season at 68.3 percent.

PROMOTIONAL SCHEDULE SET: The 2009-10 season will be full of fun promotions for the family with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Starting with the Division Championship Banner being hung on opening night, there is a special every night on the schedule. Among the great events will be a pair of bobblehead giveaways, Throwback Night (wearing 1990s Cyclones jerseys), Salute to the Reds, Pink In The Rink, Military Night, four Kids Eat Free Nights, Kids Jersey T-Shirt Night and U.S. Bank Arena Fan Appreciation Night. The usual Wednesday and Thursday night beer specials will be in effect as well. For more information on these and all other great promotions, please visit the club's website at: www.cycloneshockey.com.

CYCLONES MOVING TO THE SPORTS ANIMAL: The Cyclones are moving their radio games to 1530-AM 'The Sports Animal' for the upcoming season. Friday night games are going to be carried by the station throughout the regular season and all 2010 Kelly Cup road playoff games will be carried by the station as well. Thirty minutes prior to faceoff, there will be an edited replay of the Cyclones Coaches Show from the previous Monday from Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. This will be the first time since the 2000-01 season that the club has had its games on the station. The first three Fridays of the hockey season will have games carried by 1530.

EHGOETZ RETURNS: Center Barret Ehgoetz is the lone member of the Cyclones to have played for Chuck Weber in each of his first three seasons as a head coach. Ehgoetz also played for Weber at Utah his final season as an assistant coach (2005-06). Barret holds the Cyclones career record for assists (114) and shorthanded goals (five). He also ranks second in points (172), games (204), shots on goal (503) and plus/minus (+49). Ehgoetz is also third in goals (58) and game winning goals (eight).

ZINGER ENTERS THE FOLD: Defenseman Dwayne Zinger joins the Cyclones after playing last season in Europe. He played his first eight professional seasons in the American Hockey League--including two full campaigns with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Zinger has a home in the Cincinnati area and will make his ECHL debut in his first Cyclones appearance. Dwayne played seven games in the National Hockey League with the Washington Capitals in 2003-04 and is the lone Cyclones player with experience in the NHL. He collected 536 games in the AHL with 23 goals and 68 assists for 91 points and 868 penalty minutes.

AFFILIATES ARE BACK: The Cyclones will have NHL affiliations with the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators once again. This will be the fourth straight season that Montreal has been tied in with the Cyclones and the third straight campaign for Nashville. Hamilton and Milwaukee will be American Hockey League (AHL) affiliates for the team also. Hamilton is the top affiliate of Montreal, while Milwaukee holds that title for Nashville.

COORS LIGHT CYCLONES COACHES SHOW: The weekly Coors Light Cyclones Coaches Show gets started tonight (Oct., 12) at 7pm from Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. Head Coach Chuck Weber is on hand to discuss what is happening with the Cyclones and to answer questions about the game of hockey at all levels. Hosting the show this season is 1530-AM The Sports Animal's Nick Brunker. Tonight (Oct. 19), goaltender Jeremy Smith and Nashville Predators assistant goalie coach Ben Vanderklok will be the guests.

STEWART PLAYING NHL!: The Montreal Canadiens have former Cyclone Greg Stewart on the opening night roster this season. Stewart became 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 in 2006-07, collecting eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points and 126 penalty minutes.

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