Transactions

CONTRACTED PLAYERS RELEASED (eligible for waivers/waiver claims)
Cincinnati: Greg Gallagher, D

OTHER TRANSACTIONS:
Cincinnati: Add Jimmy Bonneau, F assigned by Hamilton (AHL)
Delete Billy Irish-Baker, F placed on the 7-day IR
Delete Sean Perkins, D transferred to the 30-day IR

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.

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. :)

Catching Up

The season is quickly (well, sort of) coming upon us. As I start this post we're at 74 days, 15 hours and some absurd amount of minutes/seconds.

So, getting up to speed, we're at six players now:

• Returning captain Chad "My Plus/Minus is Better Than Yours" Starling: very glad to have him back. Big fan of this guy.
• Returning sometimes-wears-an-A centerman Barret Ehgoetz: another solid faceoff winner that I'm glad to see back, will bring leadership to the table, especially with joining Starls for his third year under Coach Weber.
• Returning forward Scott "the Penalty Killah" Reynolds: extremely happy to see Scotty back. Definitely hoping to see some more playing time, and not just on the PK. Definitely looking to see an increase in his ice presence, as well as his scoring.
• Returning defenseman Greg Gallagher: another good move; I was impressed with Gally's progress over the season. He started off slow, but once he got a considerable amount of playing time he really stepped it up. I look forward to seeing what he can do on a more consistent basis.
• Last returner, Billy Irish-Baker: aside from starting on St. Patrick's Day and packing a ton of energy, I don't remember much about him since he wasn't around for long. Look forward to seeing what he can do full-time.
• Total newb: defenseman Gerard Miller. According to hockeydb.com, he had 57 points in 73 games for Flint (UHL). Including 44 assists. I'm impressed. Not only did he have more than twice as many assists as he did goals -- he's a defenseman. Definitely can't wait to see this guy play.

Other rumblings...

• The team secured a radio deal, on 96.5 FM. Definitely good news for the team, since there hasn't been a radio broadcast in years. It may only be 30 games, but who's to say they won't pick up more if things go well?
• Renewed the affiliation with Montreal & Hamilton - hopefully this opens the door to see a few of the guys they passed along to us last year, if not some incredible new talent.
• Also picked up an affiliation with Nashville & Milwaukee. I think this is great news for the team. A double affiliation might turn out to be difficult if both organizations get strapped at the same time, but hopefully it sets us up for a great load of talent being passed through the ranks to us. Plus, the Predators have signed Grumet-Morris. I will censor my comments on that, though.

And if you just can't wait for October 19th, Concrete Clones will be at the Loveland Meijer this Saturday (8/11), Milford the next (8/18), and finish with Western Hills (8/25).