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. :)

MILLER TIME

BYE BRYAN SCHMIDT!

Hellooooo Gerard Miller!

Game PPD due to zam issues has been rescheduled for 11/18.

Cyclones 5, Trenton 3

David Desharnais is a beast. Just, clearly, a beast.

I can't figure out how Bryan Schmidt is putting so many points on the board. He.is.awful. But to his credit, I said his name in vain much fewer times last night than preseason or the opener last week. (Please note the -1 though. kthxbye.)

Starls was a plus!!! I mean, duh. It's Starls, and he is the pluth mathta.

Also, those game notes on the Cyclones' home page? Basically the coolest thing ever. You know, if you're obsessed with statistics like I am.

That is all. See you all tonight (in costume).

Opening Night Observations

• First of all - why don't we have a captain?
• Dov, way to scare the hell out of us all night. Also way to keep your head on straight even when things were getting shaky. You kept us in it.
• Bryan Schmidt, not a big fan. 4 points, but a -1 and 4 PIM and pulled a Dean Stork defense move approximately twelve times. Hey guess what, that means you fail. Please, have a seat.
• Chad Starling is sort of out of control, but I kind of like it.
• EVERYONE WAS A F*#$ING MINUS BASICALLY. Power play goals kind of hurt us that way, but 4/9 on the PP is pretty much cool with me. 0 goals on the PK, so the PK did things right and that's okay.
• "What's the score now, bitch?"
• Who did Yannick Tifu blow to get an A? Or does that stand for ... nevermind.
• Hey Goulet, you're a Bomber now, but thanks for the PP opportunities.
• Howells and A. Martin combined for 11 SOG. Way to be. Very impressed with both so far. Also with Sixsmith, who put up 2 A's on the score sheet.
• 7801, hahahahahahaha.
• Yay 1-0 and starting the season in 2nd place!
• Also poll results: 11 for Cedrick (61%), 4 for Dov (22%), 2 for Smith (11%) and 1 for "someone else".