CHARLESTON, South Carolina – Cincinnati Cyclones goaltender Loic Lacasse was solid in net, stopping a career playoff-best 41 shots but it was not enough in a 3-1 loss to South Carolina on Monday night. The win gave the Stingrays a two games to none lead in the American Conference Finals. Matt Macdonald had the lone Cyclones score.
It was the second game of the American Conference Finals between the North Division playoff champion Cyclones (41-26-5 regular season record) and the South Division playoff champion South Carolina (42-23-6 regular season record). The best of seven series will determine who will face the National Conference champion (either Alaska or Las Vegas, Alaska currently leads 2-0) for the Kelly Cup, which gets underway the weekend of May 23.
It is only the second time in the 21-year history of the ECHL that teams have met for the conference championship in consecutive years (Peoria and Trenton battled for the 2000 and 2001 Northern Conference title). It is the Cyclones third trip to the league’s final four teams playing—having lost in 2003 to Atlantic City in seven games and having won the conference honors over South Carolina a year ago.
Cincinnati went on to take the Kelly Cup in six games against Las Vegas.
The Cyclones grabbed the early lead at 3:55 when Matt Macdonald came down the slot and rifled a shot pat Jonathan Boutin for his second goal of the Kelly Cup playoffs. Dustin Sproat and Gerard Miller handed out the assists. South Carolina leveled the scores at one at 9:06 when Michael Dubuc collected his fourth of the postseason in the slot from Nikita Kashirsky and Spencer Carbery. It was Dubuc’s third goal against Cincinnati in this series. The shots on goal favored the Stingrays, 17-10, in the opening 20 minutes.
South Carolina scored the only goal of the frame, as Maxime Lacroix banged home his fifth score of the playoffs from Brad Farynuk at 4:58. The goal gave the Stingrays their first lead since the end of game one at 2-1. The shots on goal were dominated by South Carolina, 13-3.
A valiant third period effort went unrewarded for the Cyclones. South Carolina netted an empty net goal with nine seconds from Trent Campbell to seal the victory. The shots again favored the Stingrays, 14-6, in the period and 44-19 for the game.
Jonathan Boutin stopped 18 shots to pick up his ninth win of the postseason. Loic Lacasse stopped 41 shots in taking the defeat.
The Cyclones will play the Stingrays in the third game of the conference finals on Wednesday night (May 13) at U.S. Bank Arena. The fourth game of the series will be Friday night (May 15), also at U.S. Bank Arena. The contests will be carried on the club’s website at www.cycloneshockey.com.
Tickets for the 2009-10 Cincinnati Cyclones season are now on sale. The Cyclones Sales Department can be reached at 513-421-PUCK, extension 3. For the latest news, notes and information on the team, visit: www.cycloneshockey.com . Ask about the Family Four Pack (four tickets, four hot dogs, four Pepsis, four Cyclones winter hats, four public skate passes at SportsPlus and a SportsPlus game card) for just $77!
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