Cyclones advance to Kelly Cup Finals

CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Cyclones are just the sixth team in professional hockey to have been down three games to none and rallied to win four straight to take the series. They are the first team in ECHL history to have done so.
The Cyclones are now the American Conference Champions for the second time in three years under coaches Chuck Weber and Dean Stork. The fact the home fans are excited to have seen the team make hockey history is a huge understatement.  The final game of the seven game series, with it’s final score of 1-0 over the Reading Royals will be the talk of the town for years to come.
 
The chippiness evident in the previous two games, simmered down to shooting a few pucks at each other during warm up this evening. Neither team was willing to get into trouble before game time. The tight score kept extracurricular activities to a minimum, as both squads scrapped through the beginning minutes of the game.
 
Just as things looked grim in the scoring department, Cyclone Captain Barret Ehgoetz buried a shot into the Reading net, appearing to surprise Matt Dalton with the velocity of the shot.
 
The Reading defense clamped down from there, limiting the ‘Clones opportunities to a few and far between. Robert Mayer just simply shut out Reading for the second time in three games.
 
Fortunately two mid-game puck handling mistakes resulted in no harm from the Royals. Matt Dalton was again near perfect at his end of the ice. The Cyclones defensive corps was solid tonight, as they frustrated the Royal’s forwards in the neutral zone. Turnovers by Reading were frequent, but uneventful, save the occasional odd man rush, but led to no further scoring.
 
For their extraordinary efforts the Cyclones were awarded the Bud Gingher Memorial Trophy as the American Conference Champions  for 2009-2010. The Cyclones will face the Idaho Steelheads in the Kelly Cup Finals beginning on Friday night in Boise.
 
Contact the writer/photographer at Rob.Huelsman@prohockeynews.com