In front of a home crowd of 6,545, the Cincinnati Cyclones registered their first win of the season Friday night. The Cyclones hosted a brand new ECHL team, the Bloomington Bison, and got the win in a 2-1 back and forth game. As it was Military Appreciation Night, the Cyclones wore special black, gray, and gold uniforms, rather than their normal white home uniforms.
The game started out with a bang, as Cyclones defenseman Steven MacLean got the game going, fighting Bison forward Max Neill just a little over 3 minutes into the game. The two exchanged multiple punches before the refs broke up the fight, not allowing one to take down the other. It gave the players, and the crowd, great energy to start the game.
It was the penalties that shaped the game. The Cyclones registered 6 penalties compared to the Bison’s 4, giving the Cyclones 3 power play opportunities and the Bison 4.
The Bison made the Cyclones' errors in the box count, scoring on their first powerplay chance thanks to a holding call off Justin Vaive. The Bison came in on a 3 on 1, which allowed a pass to the middle to go through, and a backhand shot by Brett Budgell put the Bison up 1.
The Cyclones played a good penalty kill for the rest of the game, now allowing another power play goal, or any goal for that matter. The Cyclones have the 3rd best penalty kill in the ECHL, being successful on 90.2% of shorthanded opportunities, allowing only 4 power play goals this season.
The Cyclones did not have the same luck on the power play as the Bison had. They were not able to capitalize on any of their 3 power play chances. Their powerplay is on the opposite side of the league than their penalty kill is; they are dead last, scoring a power play goal on only 7.4% of opportunities. They only have 2 power play goals on the season so far.
Cincinnati bounced back after the power play goal by the Bison, scoring off a shot by Kyle Bollers in the slot with a little over 8 minutes to go in the 1st. The shot was originally saved by Bison goalie Hugo Ollas, however, the puck squeaked in the net when Ollas went back in position, trying to find the puck, accidentally kicking it into his own net.
The score remained this way until 11:26 left in the second, when Mathieu Gosselin, in the high slot, received a pass from Bollers, taking the one-timer into the top corner of the net, putting the Cyclones on top.
Cyclones goaltender Pavel Cajan allowed the score to stay this way, staying strong and stopping 34/35 shots, giving the Cyclones the 2-1 win.
Although the Cyclones were outshot 35-24, they battled through and registered their first victory of the year.
Despite the 1-6-3-0 record, the Cyclones have had 6 losses by 1 score, including 3 in overtime. They also have the 6th best average attendance in the league, recording an average of 7,072 fans every game, showing the city’s dedication to this team.
The Cyclones look to continue their winning ways with a two-game road trip this weekend, traveling to Bloomington on Saturday at 8:00 pm and then playing Fort Wayne on Sunday at 5:00 pm.
The team will then have a 10-day break before their next home game on November 27th at 7:35 pm against the Kalamazoo Wings.
