ECHL North Division playoff race to go down to the wire

READING , Pa – Back in January, we made mention that the ECHL’s North Division playoff race would be one worth watching. Well, one thing is for sure, nothing has changed.
The only team that seemed for have forgotten that the season started back in October were the Reading Royals. In the mean time, the Johnstown Chiefs, Wheeling Nailers, Cincinnati Cyclones, Trenton Devils, Elmira Jackals, and Dayton Bombers are all separated by 10 points heading into the last four weeks of the season.
While only four teams make the playoffs this season instead of five as in past seasons, it hasn’t made the playoff race any easier.
Here is a current look at the North Division playoff race (All stats as of March 10, 2009).
Cincinnati – The defending ECHL champion Cincinnati Cyclones are still going strong despite having a semi rough past 10 games in which they have gone 6-4-0. The Cyclones have 71 points and are holding onto first place by only two points over Johnstown and Wheeling, three over Trenton, and four over Elmira.

The offense is still carrying the team ranking third overall with 217 goals. Oddly enough the Cyclones do not have an active player in the top 20 in scoring. In fact, six of the Cyclones top 10 players are all either on call-ups, traded, or are injured. Barrett Ehgoetz is holding the forth with 20 goals and 33 assists.
The Cyclones defense is still soft but they are improving. Opponents have scored 202 goals, but they are no longer one of the worst defenses in the league.
Cincinnati’s power play has improved going from tenth overall to sixth, but they are still ranked 21^st on the penalty killing which accounts for 64 of the teams 202 goals allowed.
Prospect Watch – Rookie Ian McKenzie (RW) is an undrafted free agent signed by the Nashville Predators.   Currently he has 12 goals and 3 assists in 38 games. Loic Lacasse is a Montreal Canadiens goaltending prospect who was drafted in the sixth round (181^st overall) in 2004. He has started 14 games and has a GAA of 3.21 and a save percentage of .894.
Johnstown – The Chiefs are fortunate to still be in the race for first going 3-6-1 in their last 10 games with an overall record of 33-24-3-0 (69 points), tied with Wheeling for second place. With wins being the first tiebreaker, of now Johnstown would win finish in second with 33 wins over the Nailers 31. Both teams have played in 60 games.

Johnstown%27s Randy Rowe (photo by Brian Mechling)

With Trenton and Elmira charging hard, Johnstown will have do something quick to fix whatever is ailing them. The power play unit slide is still ranked eleventh since January, and are up slightly on the penalty kill from ninth to eighth.
The Chiefs offense was ranked fourth in the American Conference but have since slid to sixth. The defense has slid from third to fourth allowing only 188 goals but the team has only scored 194 during the season.
The offense is led by Petr Pohl with 26 goals and 35 assists, which ties him for 10^th overall in points (61).
Rookie defenseman Jon Landry has hit as wall offensively in scoring with 7 goals and 15 assists. He has only 7 assists since January.
Kris Mayotte is still one of the leagues best goaltenders ranking seventh in goals against average (2.71) and tenth in save percentage (.912).
Prospect Watch – Pohl is a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect. He was taken in the 2004 draft in the fifth round (133 overall). Trevor Hendrikx was taken by the Blue Jackets in two separate drafts, once in 2003 (ninth round) the other in 2005 (seventh round). He has 6 goals and 10 assists in 37 games.
Wheeling – The Nailers have the leagues best offense   with 225 goals in 60 games, only one goal more than the Florida Everblades (224).
The Nailers are led by a couple of rookies. Bryan Ewing is second in the league in scoring with 39 goals and 37 assists. Another rookie, Jordan Morrison is fifth overall with 21 goals and 44 assists.
Oddly enough no other Nailers are in the top 20. They do however have 2 other rookies who are tops in scoring by defenseman: Mitch Ganzak and Elgin Reid with 36 and 34 points respectively
Goaltender Curtis Darling is currently the starter in goal for the Nailers with a goals against average of 3.42 and a save percentage of .899 percent.
With a young team giving up almost as many goals as they have scored might prove costly come playoff time. Wheeling ranks second overall on the power play, but the   penalty killing unit has fallen from 8^th to 14^th.
Prospect Watch – Luca Caputi is a 4^th round draft pick of Pittsburgh in 2007 (111^th overall). He was sent to the Nailers after 54 with Wilkes-Barre Scranton (AHL). So far he has only played in three games.
Trenton – The Devils have risen from the dead and are in the middle of the playoff hunt. The Devils have gone 5-3-0-2 and are playing like a team no one wants to play against.

Trenton Devils Chris Poli (photo by Lewis Bleiman)

Trenton , like their NHL parent club in New Jersey, is winning with stingy defense.   The Devils were at one time dead last in goal scoring but have since rise to score 189 goals and have allowed only 177.
Unlike New Jersey however, you wont see them with a scorer in the top 20, but   Eric Castonguay is 27^th with 50 points. Goaltender Gerald Coleman is the rock in net for Trenton currently ranking third overall in GAA (2.34), and seventh in save percentage (.915).
Prospect Watch – Brad Snetsinger is an undrafted free agent signee with 18 goals and 22 assists in 40 games.
Elmira – The Jackals are in the midst of the playoff hunt in their second season in the ECHL. This year however, the Jackals are finding things to be tougher than ever before in the division. Elmira’s offense has scored less than the defense has allowed but are still only four points out of first place, but only one out of a playoff spot.
Elmira does not have a scorer or a goaltender in the top 20. Steve Yetman continues to lead the team in offense with 23 goals and 25 assists.   He is the only player on the team with 20 or more goals, but they do have balanced scoring with 28 different players scored at least one goal this season for the Jackals.
The Jackals have used seven different goaltenders so far this season, three were rookies. One of those rookies, Mitch O’Keefe, has started the most games (31).
Prospect Watch – Rookie goaltender Michael Teslak was assigned to the team by the Philadelphia Flyers, and has similar number to that of O’Keefe.
Dayton – Someone on the Bombers must have gotten the message that they needed to score some goals because early in the season Dayton was off to a poor start offensively.
the Bombers have scored 199 goals in 61 games, good for third in the division and fifth in the conference.
Goaltender David Shantz is back with the team after a stint in the AHL, and is 17^th in goals against and 24^th in save percentage.
The Bombers offense could get a boost down the stretch. They are without their top four scorers. Nino Musitelli leads the offense with 18 goals and 25 assists.
Prospect Watch – Shantz, a Florida Panthers prospect, was originally draft by the Panthers in the second round (37^th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com