CINCINNATI, OH – The Cincinnati Cyclones (11-5-1-0) hammered the Kalamazoo Wings, 8-1, on Friday night. Forward John Wiitala recorded his first pro hat trick, while forwards Darik Angeli, Mason Mitchell, Justin Vaive, and Ben Johnson, along with defenseman Cody Sol, scored the goals for Cincinnati, who record their largest goal output of the season.
Cincinnati struck quickly in this one, finding the back of the net 7:39 into the first when Mitchell sent a pass from the right side to Angeli who skated into the slot, and he snapped in a shot into the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead.
That lead became 2-0, 48 seconds later, when defenseman Justin Baudry took a shot from the blueline that was squeezed through traffic in front, and Wiitalla dove to send it the rest of the way into the net to give the Cyclones a two-goal advantage.
The Cyclones capped off their big period with 2:37 remaining while on the power play, when forward Jesse Schultz fed Mitchell in the slot and he snapped in past Wings goaltender Jake Kielly to put Cincinnati on top 3-0 after 20 minutes.
In the second, Wiitala added his second of the game on a penalty shot at the 7:19 mark when he was hauled down on a breakaway to give Cincinnati a 4-0 lead. Cincinnati was not done and added one more in the frame when Schultz sent a pass to Vaive in the slot, and he riffled a shot in past Keilly to put Cincinnati on top, 5-0, after two periods.
The Cyclones continued their forward motion in the third, tacking on another at the 7:41 mark when defenseman Frank Hora slid the puck across the blueline to Sol following a Cincinnati faceoff win, and he blasted a shot in to give the Cyclones a 6-0 lead.
After the Wings broke up the shutout 10 seconds later on a goal from defenseman Zach Urbanto cut the Kalamazoo deficit to 6-1, Wittala capped off his career night at the 10:33 mark when forward Cody Milan sent a pass below the goal line to Wiitala, and he jammed the puck in to put Cincinnati a 7-1 advantage and Wiitala his first pro hat trick.
The Cyclones wrapped up their offensive explosion with less than four minutes remaining when Angeli fed Johnson who stuffed in his second goal in as many games to send Cincinnati off to an 8-1 win. The Cyclones outshot Kalamazoo, 36-23 on the evening, with goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopping 22 in the win.
Cincinnati hosts the Indy Fuel on Saturday night to conclude their four-game week. Face-off is set for 7:35 p.m. ET.
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