0-1-1

Once again I've been a little absent but I just got my first taste of the 2008-09 Cyclones on Saturday in Dayton. The small sampling I saw was sloppy and not the kind of hockey we're used to seeing Chuck Weber's team play, but it was one game - I'm not panicking yet. Contrary to those comments made by Bombers fans - we are not 0-2, we're 0-1-1 and do, in fact, have one point. Winless, but not defeated.

I have no comment on Wheeling because, well, I was completely out of the loop and haven't even seen a scoresheet, all I know's we lost and Beauregard had a hat trick.

Speaking of Beauregard... How long until Hamilton swaps him for Aubin? Who knows - but they're 4-0. Although it'd be an incredible waste of talent to watch him waste away as a health scratch in the Ameircan Hockey League. Other bits from Hamilton... after four games, David Desharnais (the little munchkin who could) is 16th in the AHL in assists. He's 1-4-5. Ryan Russell has surpassed his 2007-08 point total already in four games. Cedrick Desjardins has yet to see time between the pipes.

In Milwaukee... Van Guilder and McElroy have yet to put up points - could we see one of them soon? Hopefully if Arnott gets healthy, Nashville will trickle some talent down to Milwaukee.

Getting caught up

First things first, some signings:
Billy Irish-Baker, Sean Perkins, TJ McElroy, Barret Ehgoetz

All of them are great assets to the team and I'm glad to have them back. I think Irish-Baker and Perkins, with a full season under the belts, will bring great things to the table in their sophomore season. TJ McElroy finished fairly strong after coming over in the trade from Idaho. Ehgoetz, what can I say? The guy has done great things for the team in two seasons. He's a trooper.

And four training camp invitees:
Mikael Bedard, Nicolas Robillard, Paul Lynch, Brian Porter

Lynch and Porter were invitees from the free agent camp in August. Bedard, however, comes to us from the BCHL's Nainaimo Clippers where he put up 71 points in 59 games... 1.2 points per game. Robillard comes from the University of Moncton (CIS), where he played one season and put up 24 points in 28 games after splitting four seasons between the QMJHL and the QJAHL. He won the Memorial Cup with Cedrick Desjardins and the Quebec Remparts in 2005. Lynch spent 48 games in the SPHL last season, chalking up 130PIM. I'll reserve my opinions on this one, based on my feelings about the SPHL, but I'm not writing him off completely. Porter comes to us from the Greater Toronto Hockey League, 58 pts in 46 games with a ... get this ... +49.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have one line! :P

Onto other things of importance... NHL training camps. At least 10 members of the 2007-2008 Cyclones are going to be suiting up for NHL clubs in their training camps this month:

Montreal: Mathieu Aubin, Thomas Beauregard, David Desharnais, Cedrick Desjardins, Conrad Martin, Olivier Latendresse, Ryan Russell
Nashville: Ryan Maki, Mark Matheson
Pittsburgh: Jean-Michel Daoust

Signings; Beauregard

• The Canadiens have a great feature here about Thomas Beauregard. Check it out. He talks about how he's glad he started in Cincinnati. Definitely a good read.
• Mitch Woods was signed today, he spent 73 games with the Fort Wayne Komets where he amassed 297 penalty minutes. He did also manage 36 points, so I'll give him a small benefit of the doubt, but WTF. I hate hate hate goons (my love for Jared Boll is irrelevent here). I know Chuck doesn't like to carry guys on his roster that play dirty, so I'm hoping for chippy and not like a Nick Parillo.
• Matt Syroczynski was signed last week. I have a love/hate relationship with Chico - but it all balances out because usually for each dumb thing he does, he does something equally as awesome. Welcome back, Chico. :)

Developmental Camp

Just quick note: forwards Thomas Beauregard, David Desharnais, & Ryan Russell are among the 30 prospects participating in Montreal's developmental camp this week.

Extending the lead

Unbeaten in the last 7 (6-0-1) with a 3-1 win over Wheeling (they showed up this time).

JM Daoust's 7th consecutive game with a goal is now tied for the longest this season in pro hockey.

Desharnais' goal put him in a tie for the rookie scoring lead.

Gleed & Bonneau were reassigned from Hamilton. Quite a few extra guys floating around. Sixsmith is back in the lineup, as was Gallagher, finally.

Anyone else thing Beauregard should leave the fighting to the big guns? Yeah, me too.

Stats Extravaganza and more

With the 5-4 Win over Dayton -- the boys are at 19 points, a .731 win percentage, and have a two-point lead over Elmira & Reading for first in the North division, and still share a piece of the American lead. Plus Gerard Miller lost a couple teeth so he's pretty hardcore now.

Congratulations to JM Daoust -- his 6-game goal streak is currently the second longest in professional hockey this season!

With almost exactly one month in the books...
- The Cyclones are still tied for the goal lead & have allowed the 3rd-fewest (behind two teams with less GP).
- JM Daoust & David Desharnais are 8th & 9th respectively in overall scoring.
- Desharnais' 17 pts are second in rookie scoring. Beauregard's 12 are good for 10th.
- Desjardins' 2.16 is 5th best overall, and Grumet-Morris' 2.29 is 7th. Grumet-Morris ranks 8th in wins with 5.
- 5 players are averaging at least a point per game (Desharnais, Aubin, Daoust, Beauregard, and yes - my least favorite player ever - Bryan Schmidt, somehow...).
- Desharnais is a +12. I REALLY like this guy. 10 others are at least a +5

- My first month of the season MVP pick: very easily David Desharnais.

The make-up game for Friday's atrocity is Tuesday -- tickets are good for that game -- hope to see all of you (and David Desharnais) there.

Catching up

Not that I'm sure anybody noticed my slacking, but I've been sick so the poor little blog took a little hiatus... but I'm back, now (and still sick).

Let's see. Game one in Elmira was ugly and deserves no further mention. The second one was much better, obviously, being 5-1... Dov stopped 30 shots in the win. The next night they spoiled Reading's home opener with a 3-0 win including two goals by Scotty Reynolds. Cedrick stopped all 30 shots in the win. In Dayton on Sunday after a long bus ride home, they dropped 3-2 to the Bombers after giving up a goal to Beaudoin with 0:52 to go.

Finally back home after the 4 (+1 to be played later) game road trip, they stopped Wheeling on Wet Wednesday with a couple of goals by Billy Irish-Baker and the second consecutive shutout by Desjardins. Is anyone else as impressed by this kid? 3 points in 5 games, +4... plays like he's 6'3" and can actually skate...

Last night's game was fun and a little out of control. Avery Wilson got things started 3:04 into the first frame. Yes, that Avery Wilson... and then did it again at the 18:00 mark. He ended up a +3 on the night and managed to not get a single penalty the whole game. Ladies and gentlemen, Avery Wilson is a born-again power forward. Haha. Anyway, three players (Wilson, Aubin, and Beauregard) had two goals apiece... Daoust and Reynolds added the other two, and Dov made 18 stops in the 8-1 win. The 'Clones had 42 shots of their own.

Also, Bryan Schmidt is back from his brief stint with Milwaukee and Fuller has been loaned to Milwaukee.

The team sits at 6-3-0, good for first in the North Division.

Boring stats stuff that excites very few people other than me:
Thomas Beauregard's 10 points are good for 5th in rookie scoring. Desharnais' 9 are good for 12th.
Gerard Miller has 5 points in 6 games since joining the team, 8th among league defensemen.
Desjardins leads the ECHL goalies in shutouts with 2 (and in just 4 chances). Has the Cedrick Desjardins of 2006-07 come back?
Gallagher, Perkins, and Syroczynski are the only skaters to have not yet amassed at least one point.

The Cyclones...
...have the fourth best record in the league.
...have given up the fewest goals in the division (19), and scored the most (35).
...have the 6th best power play in the league at 21.7%, 2nd best road power play at 25.0%
...have the 5th best home PK with 92.0%, 5th best road PK at 88.2%, putting them fourth overall at 89.9%

Don't forget Throwback Night on Saturday! $6 tickets, $1 pop/beer/hot dogs, $0.25 popcorn... and another chance to show Augusta how Northern Division hockey is played. :)

Also don't forget to check out my pictures here... updated constantly. :)

Hamilton demotes 4, MacDonald returned, Milwaukee sends 3 (UPDATED)

Matt MacDonald was returned by Rockford to the team on Monday. More here.

The team received four from Hamilton today - forwards Mathieu Aubin, David Desharnais, Thomas Beauregard, and goaltender Cedrick Desjardins.

• Aubin, 21, went 16-30-46 in 48 games with the Cyclones in 2006-07, including 9 points in 10 playoff games. He also had 5 points in 17 games with Hamilton.
• Desharnais, 21, finished a successful QMJHL career in 2007, finishing last season with an impressive 108 points in 61 games (374 points in 262 career games with Chicoutimi). He also suited up in 7 games with Bridgeport and went 1-1-2.
• Beauregard, 21, is also a product of the QMJHL and scored 124 points in 69 games with Acadie-Bathurst.
• Desjardins, 22, returns to Cincinnati for his second professional season after going 24-19-1 with a 2.54 GAA and .917 SPCT. He also went 0-2 in two games for Hamilton.

Milwaukee also assigned three to the team, goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, forward James Sixsmith, and defenseman Bryan Schmidt.

• Grumet-Morris, 25, split the season between Cincinnati and three AHL clubs (Hamilton, Portland, and Manitoba). With the Cyclones he went 11-8-3 with a .909/2.77.
• Schmidt, 26, notched 18 points in 58 games with Manchester of the AHL. He also spent six games with Reading (ECHL).
• Sixsmith, 23, joins the team from the college ranks out of Holy Cross where he averaged 38 points per season. He also played three games with Bridgeport (AHL), and had was 2-1-3.

Current roster stands at 22:

• Goaltenders (4): Cedrick Desjardins, Dov Grumet-Morris, John Smith (PTO), Lee Lansdowne (PTO)
• Forwards (14*): Barret Ehgoetz, Scott Reynolds, Mathieu Aubin, David Desharnais, Thomas Beauregard, Jean-Michel Daoust, Avery Wilson, Travis Fuller, Billy Irish-Baker, Andrew Martin, Matt Rogers, Steven Doherty (PTO), P.O. Mouton (PTO), James Sixsmith
• Defensemen (7): Matt MacDonald, Chad Starling, Conrad Martin, Tyler Howells, Greg Gallagher, Sean Perkins (PTO), Bryan Schmidt

*Forward Gerard Miller is still with Hamilton.