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.

Qualifying offers

Qualifying offers were made today to eight players: Barret Ehgoetz (F), Jean-Michel Daoust (F), Billy Irish-Baker (F), Scott Reynolds (F), Matt Syroczynski (F), Matt Macdonald (D), TJ McElroy (D), and Sean Perkins (D)

I can't really say any of them surprise me, or disappoint me. I figured Macdonald and Ehgoetz to be shoo-ins regardless. I'd love to see all three of the defensemen back. Perkins' progress as the year went on was phenomenal, so I think with a year & a Kelly Cup under his belt, he'll be even stronger come training camp in October.

I hope that it means better things will come for Irish-Baker... after the Wheeling game where he got the concussion, his ice time and play were never the same. If we could back get the intense, wanna-make-the-cut version of Billy (circa October) that we all fell in love with, we'd be in really good shape. But I hope for the best for BIBs.

All are great players, I can't say enough great things about Scott Reynolds... undervalued, underappreciated, but one of the hardest working guys on the ice. To some degree, Ehgoetz is much the same, but puts up a few more points. Syroczynski's a great player who put up great numbers quietly - by playing the small game, not the big, flashy way. But I question his focus at times. Sure, sticking up for your much smaller teammates is great, but there's a time and a place for everything. Sometimes it's just not necessary to be a gigantic tool and hit people.

McElroy, I don't have much to say about. His penalties can be an issue, but he's a solid defenseman when he's not in the box. Macdonald has come so far in his two seasons, and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he spends a little more time in the AHL than in Cincinnati.

Daoust, on the other hand, was a different player when he came back from WBS. Provided, yes, the team was different when he came back than when he left. But he made a lot more boneheaded moves, but because the city of Cincinnati worships the ground he walks on for reasons unknown the way they do Cedrick, he could do no wrong by the fans. And I don't roll that way. I don't care how many goals you score, how many points you tack on, how many callups or trophies you get, you need to not act like a toolbox.

But that's enough about that. Where is Chad Starling's name on the list? Hm. Need to investigate. Unless they're not worried about him being gobbled up.

Side note: the ECHL rule for qualifying offers says that of the 8, no more than 4 can be vets. So I went looking into who we had in respect to veteran status (260 regular season games). From the final roster, it looks like Chad Starling may be the only player from last season who actually fits that bill... still. Ah, the joys of almost an entire roster full of 21 and 22 year olds.

Knock, knock... anybody home?

I know, I know. It's been three and a half months since I updated. I'm a bit of a slacker, sometimes, and it doesn't help that I kind of picked up and moved to Louisville... but never the less, I have good things to share:

2007-08 Weekly/Monthly/Yearly Awards Recap

ECHL All-Rookie Team: David Desharnais
All-ECHL First Team: David Desharnais
All-ECHL Second Team: Chad Starling

InGlasCo Player of the Week
- Mathieu Aubin: February 18-24

CCM Player of the Month
- JM Daoust: November 2007; December 2007

RBK Hockey Goaltender of the Week
- Dov Grumet-Morris: February 11-17

RBC Financial Group Saver of the Month
- Cedrick Desjardins: February 2008

PaysourceUSA Plus/Minus Performer of the Month
- Chad Starling: February 2008
- Scott Reynolds & Matt MacDonald: December 2007
- David Desharnais: November 2007

Vector/CCM Rookie of the Month:
- David Desharnais: March 2008, February 2008, November 2007

...more awesomeness forthcoming, I promise!

By the Numbers

First business first: David Desharnais named Cincinnati's representative for the American Conference All-Star Team. Congrats, David. I don't agree with this choice, but I think I have spoken my peace about that enough.

Instead, I'm going to rip apart the team by the numbers! Yay!

Let's start with the goaltenders & their rankings...
Goals Against: Cedrick - 4th (2.01); Dov - 11th (2.48)
Save Percentage: Cedrick - 7th (.924); Dov - 23rd (.900)
Wins: Dov - T-2nd (11); Cedrick - 21st (6)
Shutouts: Cedrick - 1st (3)

And for the skaters:
Points: JM Daoust - 2nd (38), Barret Ehgoetz - 14th (28), David Desharnais - 18th (26)
Goals: JM Daoust - 1st (21)
Assists: Barret Ehgoetz - 6th (22), David Desharnais - 11th (20), JM Daoust - 18th (17)
Power Play Goals: JM Daoust - 4th (8)
Game-Winning Goals: JM Daoust - 4th (4)
First-Goals: JM Daoust - 2nd (5)
Insurance Goals: Mathieu Aubin - 2nd (3), Billy Irish-Baker - 10th (2)
Plus/Minus: Barret Ehgoetz - 1st (+19), Tyler Howells - 2nd (+16), Conrad Martin - 3rd (+16), Scott Reynolds - 7th (+14), David Desharnais - 11th (+13), Chad Starling - 13th (+13), JM Daoust - 15th (+13), Gerard Miller - 21st (+11), Mathieu Aubin - 30th (+10), Matt MacDonald - 32nd (+10) ... this stat has basically made my day
Rookie Scoring: David Desharnais - 6th (27 pts)

...and as a team:
107 goals scored: #1 overall (Texas is next with 98)
62 goals against: #2 overall (LV is first with 55)
Powerplay: 19.7% (6th)
Penalty Kill: 85.3% (5th)
Free sandwiches from City BBQ: 7

Let the revolving door turn

Remember me? :)

Players currently on recall: J. Sixmith, B. Schmidt, D. Grumet-Morris (Milwaukee), C. Desjardins, D. Desharnais (Hamilton)
Players we had for a minute: J. Gleed, C. Urquhart, J. Bonneau (Hamilton)

Hey Hamilton, quit depleting us!

Newbs: Maxime Daigneault from Milwaukee, where he was 2-2 with 2.33 and .909 GAA... Ervins Mustukovs, a Latvian who played in the SPHL this season for Knoxville and formerly for Toledo... he went 3-0-1 there but with a 3.91 and .889... I'm assuming Daigneault gets the start between the pipes tonight and Sunday... Mustukovs against Wheeling... those of you going, let me know how he looks.

Guess the bad thing about being a phenomenal minor league team is getting depleted when they get too good.

Also of note (old news now), David Desharnais was PaySource USA Plus Minus Performer of the Month and Rookie of the Month for November in the ECHL... Jean-Michel Daoust was the CCM Player of the Month for November... and Cedrick Desjardins was runner-up for the RBC Saver of the Month award for Nov.

Keep it up boys. Hopefully, even with the callups, they can keep up this pace... this team's unstoppable when in full-force... unbelievable November... here's to an unbelievable December, too.

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.

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.

Two things. (Actually 3 - see edit below.)

One:

Two:


Enough said.

ETA: Not enough said, actually. Look what I found -- fight videos. Syro vs Lundberg & Wilson vs Kostadine against Augusta on Throwback Night. Be sure to check 'em out!

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. :)