Waldron Scores First Two Pro Goals as Walleye Fall 5-3 in 100th Straight Sellout
ECHL Toledo Walleye

Waldron Scores First Two Pro Goals as Walleye Fall 5-3 in 100th Straight Sellout

Published on February 6, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


Toledo, OH - The Toledo Walleye dropped tonight's game at the Huntington Center against the Cincinnati Cyclones by a score of 5-3 as the team recorded its 100th consecutive sellout. After signing with the Walleye earlier this week, Johnny Waldron scored his first two professional goals in the third period of tonight's game. Sam Craggs recorded the team's other goal.

How it Happened:

After many strong defensive efforts by Toledo to hold Cincinnati shotless 8 minutes inot regulation, the Cyclones got on the board first, as Marko Sikic scored the first goal of the game on Cincinnati's first shot on goal 8:29 into the first period.

Will Hillman took a hooking penalty at the 14:02 mark of the first, giving the first power play opportunity of the day to the Cyclones. The Walleye killed it off, but Gunnarwolfe Fontaine added another goal for the Cyclones at the 18:46 mark of the first, putting the Cyclones up 2-0. Offsetting roughing penalties came out of a scrum towards the end of the first, with Sam Craggs and Rhett Parsons each getting a roughing call with 17 seconds to go in the period, carrying over 4-on-4 hockey into the second.

Ben King added on a third goal for Cincinnati after the 4-on-4 expired, 2:11 into the second period, to put the Cyclones up 3-0, marking the end of Nolan Lalonde's night, as Matt Jurusik came in to replace him. Rhett Parsons and Will MacKinnon dropped the gloves 12 seconds later, each earning five-minute majors for the fight at the 2:23 mark of the second. Things continued to be chippy throughout the beginning of the second period as Mitch Lewandowski and Andrew Noel each earned 2-minute minors for roughing 5:02 into the period.

Andrew Noel took a tripping penalty at the 13:14 mark of the second, putting the Walleye on their first power play of the game. Sam Craggs got the Walleye on the board on that power play, scoring his 5th goal of the season at the 14:10 mark of the second period. Mitch Lewandowski and Colin Swoyer got assists on the goal that cut Cincinnati's lead to two.

Cincinnati got the goal back with Ben King's second goal of the game, putting the Cyclones up 4-1 just 17 seconds into the third period. Soon after, Cincinnati took both a high-sticking minor to Ryan Kirwan and a 10-minute misconduct to Sam Stevens 1:42 into the third, putting the Walleye on the power play. The power play was negated though, as Tanner Dickinson took a high-sticking minor of his own at the 2:45 mark of the third.

The penalties continued as Jacob Truscott took a holding penalty on a breakaway (after the expiration of the previous penalty to Dickinson) at the 5:17 mark of the third period. Nick Rhéaume scored on the Cincinnati power play to extend the Cyclones lead to four goals at the 6:47 mark of the third.

Johnny Waldron recorded his first goal of his pro career at the 9:39 mark of the third period, bringing the Walleye within three goals of Cincinnati. The lone assist on the goal went to Nate Roy. Waldron followed it up with his second goal of the game less than two minutes later, at the 13:14 mark of the third period. Mitch Lewandowski got the primary assist on the goal, his second of the night, and Tanner Dickinson got the secondar assist on the goal form Waldron that brought the Walleye back within two.

Toledo pulled Matt Jurusik with three minutes to go in favor of the extra attacker, down two goals. Toledo sustained pressure in the offensive zone but couldn't get the job finished as the 5-3 score went final. The Walleye power play was 1-for-2 on the night while the penalty kill was 2-for-3, with Toledo outshooting Cincinnati 42-15 (21-2 in the third period).

Local 245 Three Stars:

1 - F Ben King, CIN (2 G, 1 A)

2 - F Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, CIN (1 G, 1 A)

3 - F Johnny Waldron, TOL (First two pro goals)

What's Next:

The Walleye will head off to Fort Wayne tomorrow to face off against the Komets in the team's third trip to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum this season, going 1-1-0-0 in the team's two trips so far, holding a 3-2-0-0 record overall against Toledo's top competitor for the Central Division. Puck drop for tomorrow's game is set for 7:35 PM.

News:

The Toledo Walleye signed rookie forward Johnny Waldron to an ECHL Standard Player Contract this past week. The 23-year-old Batavia, Illinois native joins the Walleye from Arizona State, where he's played in 21 games this season, recording 8 points (1 G, 7 A).

Before playing at Arizona State this season, Waldron played the 2022-25 seasons with Miami (OH), where he was teammates with Dylan Moulton in all three seasons and Colby Ambrosio in the 2024-25 season. Waldron played 93 games with the RedHawks, recording 56 points (22 G, 34 A) and 30 penalty minutes, totaling 114 games, 64 points (23 G, 41 A) and 40 PIMs over the course of his college career. He also has 110 games of experience in the USHL with the Waterloo Black Hawks prior to the beginning of his college career, where he recorded 60 points (17 G, 43 A) and 42 PIMs between 2018 and 2022.

Check out the Toledo Walleye Statistics

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