The Cyclones took a trip to Kalamazoo last night in their return to action after the All Star break. Kalamazoo was kind enough to give the Boys a tour of their wood shed, specifically the area out back, where they where taken and handed a 7-1 beat down. The game was the 1st of a home and home series with the K-wings and also kicked off a series of 3 games in 4 nights and ultimately finishes up with the Cyclones playing6 games in 9 nights; 3 of those 6 games will be played against Kalamazoo.
The game started ugly with the Cyclones giving up a goal just 1:01 into the game. The K-wings didn’t look back and played like a team with something to prove against the Cyclones, who had a 6-1-0-1 record against the K-Wings going into the game. It ended just as bad with Kalamazoo adding the extra point with 4 seconds left in the game.
From my perspective watching on the B2 it looked as if the Cyclones had take a week off and the K-wings had stayed in Kalamazoo and practiced all week. The K-wings didn’t appear to be doing anything different from what they usually do. The difference in this game was the Cyclones. The Boys looked lethargic, getting beat to loose pucks, getting pushed off the puck, and simply not moving their feet.
Anyone who has been to more than a handful of games the past few seasons has seen the difference between a Chuck Weber Cyclones Team when they skate and when they don’t. When they Boys keep their feet moving they can compete with anyone. When they don’t the problems begin to compound. That is what I observed in this game. It wasn’t that Kalamazoo was that much faster, they just took advantage of the Cyclones sluggishness.
We all know that the Boys have to take care of their own games first but the ugly loss is compounded by Toledo’s loss to Elmira. The game was a chance to put some distance between Themselves and Kalamazoo as well as retaking the top spot in the Division.
I’m sure it wasn’t a pleasant bus ride home for the Boys. Hopefully taking it on the chin will prove to be a strong motivator and the Boys will come out firing on all cylinders tonight and the next week.
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-I’m not saying this blog has anything to do with it, but back when I was questioning Dwayne Zinger he started playing better so I quite being critical of him. However, since I quite being critical, he has gone back to being quite unimpressive; He let Sam Ftorek skate right around him last night for crying out loud. I’ll give him a pass on last night’s game though, simply because everyone was terrible.
-For the 2nd straight game Hans “short fuse” Benson’s night ended early. In the last game before the All Star Break Hans dropped Toledo’s Luis Tremblay with what appeared to be a sucker punch, but Tremblay also received an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty in the altercation. Hans was not suspended for the altercation and one can only imagine what Tremblay did. Fast forward a week and Hans drops Kalamazoo’s Mitch Versteeg. The altercation began when Versteeg hit Benson with a hip check that fell into the gray area of being a low hit. I say low hit because it was below the waste but it didn’t look like it was as low as the knee; I could understand a referee’s decision regardless of whether it was whistled or not. In any event, Benson hopped up and engaged Versteeg. It look for an instance that Versteeg might oblige Benson and before Versteeg knew it, Benson had caught him twice square on the button. Versteeg fell to a heap on the ice and remained there for several minutes writhing around. Benson was given a Fighting major, an Instigating minor and a game misconduct. Versteeg was given an Unsportsmanlike Conduct minor, most likely for embellishing while on the ice. I have not seen any words as of yet if there will be any suspension given to Benson.
-In some other news, former Cyclone James “Bubba” Sixsmith has been signed by Milwaukee. His ECHL rights belong to Utah so we will not see him sent here at any point unfortunately. James has been up and down between a few AHL teams and I’m glad he getting a shot again. I was hoping to see him back in Cincy in 08-09 but he was released by Milwaukee. He got lost with all of the talent the 07-08 team had, but I always like what James brought to the ice.
-Mike-
CYCWORDS 