CINCINNATI, Oohio – The week began with the Gwinnett Gladiators in town for a two game series. The Presidents Day matinee was billed as the Cyclones Kids Club Game and many of the younger fans were in 
attendance. The Gladiators are a hard charging and fast skating team with good puck possession skills. The ‘Clones scored a 3-2 win over their opponents to the delight of the crowd.
The second duel was a mid-week clash and proved to be a totally different type of game for the home team. On this night the Cyclones passed the puck too much and shot too little as the Gwinnett defense stiffened and left the home team in their wake.Net minder Ryan Zapolski proved to be impenetrable as the Cyclones blew several scoring chances ringing the iron instead of stretching the twine. On the Cyclones end Brian Foster kept the score low and kept the team in the game to the very end.
It was a shutout 2-0 victory for the southern visitors and earned them a split in the series.
Transaction-wise Joe Devin and Anthony Luciani earned call-ups to the AHL and Joe Foss was assigned to the Cyclones from the Milwaukee Admirals. Both Devin and Luciani will be in San Antonio with the Rampage. Goaltender Brad Fogal has been assigned to North Division leader and rival Kalamazoo.
Friday night the Cyclones played their third game of the week, versus the Florida Everblades. Florida entered the game with 58 points to their credit and a 21% power play. 
The Cyclones opened the game at a frenetic pace but the Everblades scored first in the second stanza. The ‘Clones returned the favor on a breakaway by Matt Sisca to knot the score at one each. It was Sisca’s 17th goal of the season and gave hope to the 5328 fans in attendance. Cincinnati went 0 for 2 on the power play as they again showed the propensity to pass the puck rather than shoot it.
The Cyclones gained the lead on Mike Pelech’s game winner with less than a minute to play in the second period and sent the crowd into a frenzy of cheers.
The final period was much like the first with a flurry of action in the creases but no further scoring by either team. Florida failed to score on the power play as well, as both penalty kill units were stellar in this contest. This was another comeback win for the ‘Clones and moved them into 7th place in the conference standings.
The final game of the week pitted the Cyclones against the division leading Kalamazoo Wings. This was the Wings final trip into US Bank Arena for the regular season. The Cyclones scored the first tally of the game as Dan Eves fired the biscuit past Wings net minder Maxime Clermont. The Kalamazoo squad then answered in short order with two goals of their own in just over a minute and a half to regain the lead. At the end of the first the division leaders held the 2-1 edge.
The chippiness escalated in the middle frame as the Wings extended the lead and left the ‘Clones in a quick two goal deficit. The spark the home team needed came when Mathieu Aubin, on a breakaway, was dragged to the ice by a Wings defender. Auby was awarded a penalty shot and stretched the twine to bring the Cyclones to within one.
From there, the Cyclones pressed Clermont in spite of the powerful Kalamazoo defense to tie the score at 3 all on Aubin’s second goal of the period. Matt Sisca gave the ‘Clones the lead less than a minute later on an odd man rush that put the biscuit in the basket for a 4-3 lead.
The final stanza saw the Wings battle hard to come back as they battered Cyclones net minder Chet Pickard. At one point ,charging past Cyclones defenders to get to Pickard, and drawing a goaltender interference penalty. Later center Matt Sisca notched his second tally of the game as he skated past the Kalamazoo defense alone and sealed the come from behind win. This was Sisca’s nineteenth goal of the season and earned him second star of the game honors.
Text and photos by Rob.Huelsman@Prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.