CINCINNATI, OH – Cincinnati Cyclones (21-21-4-0) climbed back to .500 with a 5-1 win over the Elmira Jackals on Wednesday night. Forward Jordan Sims recorded his first-career hat trick, with forwards Andrew Yogan and Dylan Nowakowski adding lone tallies for the Cyclones, who collect their third win in a row.
The Cyclones drew first blood just past the halfway mark of the first in the opening period when Sims intercepted a pass in front of the Elmira net, and he snapped it past Jackals goaltender Jason Kasdorf to give Cincinnati a 1-0 lead.
After former Cyclone Greg Betzold tied the game at 1-1, a few minutes later, Sims struck again when he beat an Elmira defender to a loose puck, skated in on a shorthanded breakaway, and tossed a backhander around Kasdorf to give the Cyclones a 2-1 lead.
That 2-1 lead held up throughout the remainder of the first, and in the second Cincinnati extended their lead to a pair when Yogan weaved his way through the Jackal defense from the neutral zone and tossed a backhander in past Kasdorf to give the Cyclones a 3-1 edge through two periods.
Cincinnati continued their forward motion in the third, and pushed their lead to 4-1 when Sims fed Nowakowski off a face off and he slid it in by Kasdorf for his third goal in as many games.
Sims capped off the Cyclones’ big night when he took a pass from forward Shane Walsh and he fired a shot into the open net to seal Cincinnati’s 5-1 win and the hat trick.
Cincinnati outshot the Jackals 33-24 on the night, with goaltender Michael Houser stopping 23 in the win. The Cyclones and Jackals wrap up their two-game series on Friday night, with face-off slated for 7:35 p.m. ET.
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