Training camp updates

In Hagersville, ON the Hamilton Bulldogs took a 7-6 win in OT in their final preseason matchup on a goal by Cyclones' Gerard Miller... Mathieu Aubin and Greg Stewart each recorded two assists... Desjardins with 17 saves after replacing Yann Danis after one period of play. Bulldogs' season begins October 6th.

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, Dov Grumet-Morris and Maxime Daigeneault combined for 21 saves in the Admirals' final preseason game. Their season opens October 6th in Peoria.

Camp opens for the Cyclones on Friday October 5th at Sports Plus. Don't forget:

Tuesday 10/9 @ 4pm - intrasquad scrimmage
Friday 10/12 @ 705pm - Cyclones @ Youngstown (preseason)
Sunday 10/14 @ 7pm - Cyclones @ Dayton (Kettering)
Wednesday 10/17 @ 6pm - Open House (meet the team, buy equipment, tour the locker rooms)

Former 'Clone Update

Look to see Jason Goulet in uniform for the Bombers for the season opener Oct. 20th in Dayton.

“It’ll be interesting being on the other side of the fence,” Goulet said of
the Bombers rivalry with the Cyclones. As for dropping the gloves against his
former team, the defenseman said simply, “we’ll have to see how it goes.”

Radio schedule

Check out the Cyclones' radio schedule on 96.5FM right here.

Better late than never, right?

So I'm a little slow in posting. Give me a break. I've been galavanting around the DC/Baltimore area, turning 21, and taking in as much (losing) baseball as possible before September 30th takes that away.

Our roster stands at 12 signed players (bolded players attending AHL camps in parentheses):

1. Jean-Michel Daoust (Milwaukee)
2. Matt Macdonald (Rockford)
3. Barret Ehgoetz (Hamilton)
4. Travis Fuller (Milwaukee)
5. Conrad Martin (Milwaukee)
6. Scott Reynolds (Hamilton)
7. Gerard Miller (Hamilton)
8. Chad Starling
9. Avery Wilson (Milwaukee)
10. Greg Gallagher
11. Billy Irish-Baker
12. Matt Rogers

The team has also extended tryout offers to 5 players, which opens up October 5th, with 2006-07 team in parentheses:

1. F Steven Doherty (Kalamazoo - UHL)
2. F Pierre-Olivier Mouton (Kahnawake - QAJHL)
3. D Sean Perkins (Vernon - BCHL)
4. G Lee Lansdowne (Milton Keynes - EPL)
5. G John Smith (Cyclones' emergency backup goalie)

Updates on a few potential returning players from last season...
Out of Montreal: Forwards Cory Urquhart, Mathieu Aubin, Jimmy Bonneau, Greg Stewart; defenseman Jon Gleed, and goaltender Cedrick Desjardins were reassigned from Canadiens camp to Hamilton's. In their preseason opener, Urquhart netted a goal and Cedrick Desjardins turned away 23 shots.
...Nashville: Goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris was among Nashville cuts and saw ice time with Milwaukee in their preseason opener, turning away 12 of 14 shots. Former IHL Cyclone Shane Willis was also reassigned from Nashville to Milwaukee -- could we see a return of Willis?

Updates on former Cyclones elsewhere in the world...
Sam Ftorek spent time with Jason Deitsch with EHC München, but will be joining the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the new IHL... Deitsch already has 3 points in 6 games... Rory Rawlyk and Mike Wirll are suiting up for EV Regensburg, ... Forward Torry Gajda will suit up for the Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL), but is in camp with Norfolk (AHL) currently... Travis Lisabeth will also be suiting up with Mississippi... Goaltender Ben Gray is with Youngstown (CHL)... Defenseman Brian Mullally has inked a contract with the Mississippi River Kings (CHL)... Nick Martens is with Graz EC in Austria... Fresno (ECHL) has retained Dave Borrelli and Riley Day for another season... former goaltender Brian Gratz is now the head coach of the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League's Indiana Ice Miners...

Have an update on a former player or anything else to mention? Email it to section136@gmail.com.

Avery is a girl's name

Avery "Section 106, row V" Wilson re-signed with the team.

Now taking bets on who watches more games from the stands, Avery or the season ticket holders. I've got $5 on Avery.

Return of the Conster

Shut up, I'm a little late. The team re-signed Conrad Martin the other day. All I can say is, "Duh" because I saw that coming on, uh, May 3rd.

Also, apparently US Bank Arena has taken away our home opener and made it one for Dayton. Gee, give our lovely rival some more home attendance. Pricks. I'm sick of drivin' to Fairborn.

Mac-Attack

Quick update... the team re-signed Matt MacDonald today. I'm not entirely surprised. Hope he can capitalize on his progress over the course of last year. I wasn't a big fan of his off the bat, but as the year progressed he seemed to know his position more. Apparently he attented Blackhawks camp, hopefully he comes back with a little more experience under his belt.

Chipotle!

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).

Newb

I'm fairly certain that if you've stumbled across this, you: a) already know me and this site was forced into your favorites, b) have seen/heard me at a game or on a message board, c) have threatened me with (or used) physical harm in one of the numerous away arenas I've spent time in.

I've been a Cyclones fan since 2000, so I'm a relative newcomer, but over the last few years have somehow lost track of time from October to April (and sometimes May) in the time warp that is hockey season. I sit in 136, now, but I've spent time in 116 and 108. I normally come armed with some kind of witty anti-visiting-team sign, a camera, and a noisemaker, but lately arena security has been kind of a stickler about those. Frickin' jerks.

I'm a pretty big fan of Coach Weber, but I'm also one of his harshest critics. I've been known to second-guess his decisions, and a few times have been right (ahem, Erik Johnson). I am not, however, a fan of the Cory Urquharts of the world who put an unneccessary 'i' in team (see-ya later, Wirll, enjoy Deutschland). I'm a supporter of the underdogs, the unknowns, and our incredibly underrated defensemen.

Stats are a pretty big deal to me. You can't argue with statistics, so if you try I will destroy you. Too often people are quick to judge a player for this and that, without looking at how their individual performance affect the score sheet (overall). Plus/minus is my favorite, and if you happen to be one of the people who argued Chad Starling's presence on the team, you may want to look away when I bring up +/-. (Okay, so I hated him with Peoria. This is different.)

Anyhoo, it's currently July and the season is something like 100 days away (I am not yet counting myself) so I'll mostly be around to update with player signings & things of that sort.