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ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Van Guilder's Hat Trick Vaults Cyclones Into First Place!

February 20, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


CINCINNATI, Ohio - Cincinnati Cyclones rookie Mark Van Guilder's hat trick propelled the team past Dayton, 5-3, on Friday night and moved the club into first place in the North Division. Ian McKenzie chipped in with a pair of goals and Ben Gordon added three assists in the triumph.

For the 36th time this season, the Cyclones scored the first goal of the game as Ian McKenzie netted his ninth goal of the season at 2:05 from Dustin Sproat and Chris Ferazzoli. McKenzie took a feed from Sproat at the top of the goal crease and snapped a shot past David Shantz. The Bombers would respond with the next three goals to build a 3-1 edge at the intermission. Christian Gaudet (7:03 on powerplay), Jarret Lukin (11:35 on powerplay) and Dominic D'Amour (14:39) picked up the tallies. Dayton won the shots battle in the opening period, 12-11.

The Cyclones exploded for three second period goals to grab a 4-3 lead. It was the 18th time this season that Cincinnati had scored three or more scores in a period. Rookie Mark Van Guilder picked up his 17th goal of the year at 9:09 from Ben Gordon and Jason Dietrich to get the Cyclones to within one. McKenzie's second goal of the night and tenth of the year just 43 seconds later from Ferazzoli and Ben McLeod knotted the scores. Just 65 seconds later, at 10:57, Van Guilder netted his second of the night and 18th of the campaign from Matt Syroczynski and Gordon to grab the lead. Cincinnati outshot Dayton, 17-5, in the period.

In the third period, the Cyclones got the only goal from Van Guilder, completing the hat trick. The score at 13:40 ws assisted by Ben Gordon and Syroczynski. Dayton outshot Cincinnati in the period, 16-6. The Cyclones won the shots battle for the game also, 34-33.

Ryan Nie is now 11-2 as a Cyclones, stopping 30 shots. David Shantz absorbed the defeat for Dayton, turning aside 29 shots.

With the crowd of 4899, the Cyclones are averaging 19.2 percent more fans than 2007-08 through 25 home games. That is the fourth-largest improvement from last year through 25 games of any professional hockey team in North America (Tulsa-CHL is up 28.3%, Bridgeport-AHL is up 23.6% and Springfield-AHL is up 21.7%). 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 2xxx per game, having welcomed 64,728 fans this season.

The 4899 was the sixth-largest crowd at U.S. Bank Arena this season.

The Cyclones are now 29-19-5 on the season, while Dayton is 25-24-5. The Cyclones and Dayton meet again at U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night (February 21) for a 7:30pm clash. It is Twister Bobblehead Night with the first 3000 fans receiving commemorative bobbleheads of the Cyclones mascot.

The game was the 13th of 15 regular season meetings between the teams with the Cyclones having a 9-2-2 record. Only tomorrow's game and a Wednesday, March 25 game at Dayton remaining in the season series. This was the 72nd meeting in the regular season between the teams with Cincinnati having a 45-20-7 mark.

Tickets for the 2008-09 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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