Cyclones mid-season report

CINCINNATI, Ohio – The All Star break has come and gone and at mid–season the Cincinnati Cyclones find themselves chasing the Wheeling Nailers in the North Division. The ‘Clones have been on an up and down course for the past month and a half, with series wins over the Florida Everblades and South Carolina Stingrays. Coupled with series losses to Wheeling and Kalamazoo, the home team is essentially playing .500 hockey at this point. Call ups to the AHL have been frequent this season and have played havoc with the lineup for Coach Skalde. Currently Netminder Marc Cheverie is with the Rochester Americans.Trade winds have brought some new blood to the team and have yet to produce desired results at game time. Most recently a trade with the Greenville team sent Chris Clackson their way and brought Paul McIlveen to the Cyclones. The Cyclones also traded forwards Sam D’Agostino and Christiaan Minella to the wheeling Nailers in exchange for Casey Pierro-Zabotel. The latter trade is sure to shake up the fans and the locker room atmosphere as Casey was not well liked by the ‘Clones faithful in his days with the Nailers.   AHL reassignment from the Rochester Americans has also brought netminder Brian Foster to the Cyclones.Recent games have shown the club’s weaknesses in the areas of the penalty kill and power play. Giving up goals to the other teams’ power play unit has become an all too regular event at US Bank Arena. Wheeling seems to be the biggest offender, as the Cyclones penalty killers are unable to stop the Nailers scoring machine with any regularity. The power play has shown some life at intervals, but remains anemic at best. Most opportunities are wasted and disorganized. There is little time spent setting up the play and a lot of time is spent on “dump and chase” when the ‘Clones have the man advantage. Even with a two-man advantage, the club remains in disarray on most plays in the oppositions end. Some of this is due to the fact that the call ups and injuries have not allowed the units to gel, but at this point in the season that should be no excuse for poor performance.The losses within their division have mounted, as the season has worn on and the club has dropped to third in the conference standings. If the Cyclones are to mount a charge toward the playoffs they must begin now, since March is primarily road games. The team needs to win the games within their own division in order to climb back up the standings and hopefully the new players acquired through recent trades will produce positive results in the locker room, as well as the win column. The rookie netminders have put forth a valiant effort, but cannot be expected to perform miracles when the defense cannot clear the puck from their defensive zone. Mistakes have been made that can be only categorized as horrible miscues that have let the opposing team score easy tallies. The most recent game against the Toledo Walleye was a shootout loss, that could have been a win had the penalty kill unit been more effective in clearing the puck from the ‘Clones zone. The Cyclones found themselves down 2-0 before roaring back to tie the game and force the overtime and ultimately the shootout. Goaltender Chet Pickard worked hard in the third period to keep the Walleye at bay. His effort fell one short in the shootout as he tried in vain to keep the Toledo squad from winning the second point.  The Cyclones will have to mount a charge now to propel them toward the post season. Coach Skalde and Fankhouser have their work cut out for them the rest of the way to April. Contact the author and photographer at Rob.Huelsman@prohockeynews.com