The Cincinnati Cyclones beat the Las Vegas Wranglers 3-1, giving the city it's first professional sports title since hte 1990 Reds won the World Series, winning the Kelly Cup in six games.

After the Wranglers tied the game at 1  in the second period, Matt Syroczynski scored a power play goal just 35 seconds into the third period to give the Cyclones the lead. That was extended six minutes later on Jon Gleed's goal.

Jean-Michel Daoust scored the Cyclones first goal and assisted on the other two.

Goaltender Cedric Desjardins recorded 30 saves in the victory.

 

The Cincinnati Cyclones advanced to the Kelly Cup finals to face the Las Vegas Wranglers (and I thought Cincinnati was a stretch to be in the EAST COAST Hockey League).

Game 1 is next Saturday at US Bank Arena. We are four games away from a parade.

 

OK, I'm sick of all the losing teams in this town, so I decided to go check out a team that actually has a chance to win a freakin' title -- the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Tonight is Game 3 of the ECHL North Division Finals, with the Clones taking on the Reading Royals at U.S. Bank Arena. THe series is tied at 1-1, with Game 4 taking place here on Wednesday and Game 5 on Thursday.

That's something I forgot to mention in my hockey rules rant from a couple of weeks ago -- hockey has an actual postseason schedule that makes sense. They play games when they're ready, not just whatever Friday, Saturday or Sunday the Lakers feel like getting around to playing. Honestly, the fact is, the Knicks and Bobcats will have played four preseason games each by the time the NBA Playoffs are over. The NBA is the only sports league where the postseason and preseason overlap.

OK, well, hockey on... I'll keep it updated as much as necessary during the action here from down by the river.

Starting lineup for the Clones:

Cedrick Desjardins in goal, Chad Starling and Conrad Martin on defense and left winger Scott Reynolds, right winger Jean-Michel Daoust and center Barret Ehgoetz.

1st Period: 'Clones first on the power play, 1:45 in. One shot nearly in -- they had two really good chances right around the goal. Gotta give credit for the Judas Priest "Breaking the Law" being played when there's a penalty. But really, is there ever a time that Judas Priest is inappropriate?

Two-man advantage for 18 seconds -- as the Royals have another penalty.

Kyle Bushee gives the Clones the 1-0 lead with a Power Play goal from Olivier Latendresse and David Desharnais with 16:15 left int he first. It's Bushee's first playoff goal. Tonight is his second playoff game.

Royals on the power play. Conrad Martin two minues for hooking at 4:14 in the first and it's a goal for the Royals. 1-1. Quick work by the Royals, as Dany Roussin scores from Patrik Hersley and Shawn Collymore on the team's second shot of the night.

Another power play for the Clones. 9:53 left in the first.

4-on-4 hockey as the 'Clones Bushee is called for holding the stick and now 4-on-3 with Daoust sent to the box for boarding. It'll be a two-man advantage here in five seconds. The Clones are able to kill that penalty. Nice work.

Another power play for the Clones. Too many men on the ice penalty with 4:07 left in the period.

No shot on that power play, but the Clones have another with 1:04 left in the first period.

Another power play goal by Bushee, assists by Jason Deitsch and Latendresse. 2-1 Clones with 41.3 left in the first.

We've got a Clone down with 33.2 left, it's Reynolds. He's back up. He's a hockey player.

Royals on a power play for the last 18.4 of the period as Martin in the box for roughing.

That's the end of the first period. Clones 10-8, and a scrum at the end of the period, no punches thrown... yet.

Cyclones 2, Royals 1, 1st intermission

2nd period: The Royals start the period with 1:42 left on the power play.

If that's you calling the phone on press row up here at U.S. Bank Arena, I'm not answering. Email me instead. Clones kill the penalty and get a shot on goal right away. Only one shot for the Royals on that power play.

Power play for the Clones. Kevin Schaeffer called for hooking with 15:48 left in the second. Nice to see Dunn come through with an RBI infield single?

Wow, Chris Blight of Reading had a breakaway shorthanded chance, but Desjardins made a nice stop to stone him. Delayed penalty on the Royals.

Two-man advantage for 50 seconds for the Clones. Brock Hooton (I really like saying Brock Hooton -- sounds like a porn star name) called for slashing with 14:37 left in the second.

The Clones have had some sloppy puck handling and gotten lucky, plus good goaltending. They're now behind on shots for the first time.

Penalty on the Clones with 5:06 left in the period. Deitsch two mintues for cross checking.

Right after killing the penalty, the Royals tie it up. Goal by Matt Herneisen from Hersley and Malcolm MacMillan with 3:01 left in the period

Reading's P.J. Atherton called for a penalty with 11 seconds left in the second period and the Clones will start the third on the power play.

Cyclones 2, Royals 2, 2nd intermission

How bad is it that during the intermission, Mo is the big name out on the ice. Mo. Mo Egger, really.

3rd Period: Josh Katzowtiz, who is here tonight for the Reading Eagle, are trying to figure out all the porn movie titles we can think of that play off popular titles in honor of Brock Hooton. Clones start the period on the power play.

Man, Mathueu Aubin just whiffed on a chance right in front of the Royals' goal.

We've got another power play for the Clones with 16:03 left in regulation.

We've got the whole Clear Channel crew here tonight -- Tim and George from Kiss 107, Nick Brunker and celebrity sighting of Mo Egger.

The Clones completely wasted that power play. Just looked horrible. Now the Royals are on the power play with 13;42 left.

Both teams pretty much waste their opportunities on power plays.

Well, the Royals don't want to mess around with OT. Shawn Collymore has an amazing goal, putting the puck over the left shoulder of Desjardins. Brock Hooton with the assist -- um, not sure how that would work in his other profession. Well, actually I do, but this is a family blog. 3-2 Royals.

5 minutes left. The Clones have picked up their offense, but can't get it by Reading goaltender Danny Taylor.

3:32, Reading's Kevin Saurette scores on the rebound after a couple of really nice saves by Desjardins. And the stands start to empty. 4-2 Reading

And at 2:48, another goal for the Royals.. Chris Blight scores. 5-2.

The good news? $1 PBR on Wednesday. I've always said, PBR is king of the cheap beers.

FINAL

Reading 5, Cincinnati 2

 

 

 

Nope, not that silly little golf tournament down south in that dirty little town of Augusta -- it's hockey time. And more importantly, it's playoff hockey.

 

As a Southern guy, I'm not sure how I ever got into hockey, but I think it had something to do with the 1996 playoffs, watching the 1996 Caps-Penguins four overtime game. I was in college and my roommate and I just got caught up in it. It was amazing, neither of us could stop watching it. The tension, the effort, the excitement. Playoff hockey, that's where it's at.

 

So here we go with my list of why playoff hockey is great...

 

1. Overtime playoff hockey: Edge of the seat action for hours at a time. No players seem to play harder than hockey players. There's nothing quite like watching a game at 2 a.m. waiting for just one tiny mistake. The best part is you can see the players give every bit of effort they have until they seemingly can't even stand. It's basically the exact opposite of the NBA regular season (in more ways than that I'm actually watching.)

2. The underdog has a chance: In the NBA it seems like the No. 1 seed will always just roll into the next round. Not the NHL. It seems like every season, there's an upset in the playoffs (OK, last year it was only a 6-3 upset, but in 2006 No. 8 Edmonton and No. 7 Colorado both won their first-round series, and Edmonton topped No. 6 Anaheim to go to the Stanley Cup finals).

3. One hot goaltender is all it takes: Every year it seems like there's a guy who just takes over the playoffs, one goaltender refuses to let his team lose, and it's not always the best goaltender during the season. It means any team can be in it and give you a miracle run all the way to the cup.

4. The playoff beard: Seriously? Is there a better tradition in sports than the playoff beard? Sure, some of the European guys can't grow decent beards and Sidney Crosby isn't old enough, but you get those grizzly 40-year old Canadian defensemen and their woolly beards that Santa's jealous of and you know it's playoff time. I love to see who's got the best beard after the first series. Me, I'm not shaving until the Canadiens lose. It's my personal playoff beard. (The best are the red beards, or the guys so old they have white beards).

5. Reseeding: The fact the NHL reseeds every team after each round makes sure that a team is rewarded for a good season. They've already got to dodge the upset factor (2) and the hot goalie (3) factor, so it's nice to know that if you have the best record, you will be rewarded beyond just the first round and home ice.

6. Mid-period interviews: Having covered plenty of sports, I still find it amazing that guys in hockey do interviews during the game, between periods. Especially in overtime. I mean, by fifth intermission, what is there left to talk about? Still, there out there and doing it. Good work.

7. Toothless victory smiles: I love the hockey smile. Sure, it's always there, but there's something about the joy of a guy scoring the game-winner and smiling with two big gaps in his grin.

8. "Injury" listings: I understand -- and as a member of the media appreciate -- why all other sports require a detailed and accurate listing of injuries (it's because of gambling). But in hockey, especially in the playoffs, if a guy is listed as having a left leg injury, you know for sure the one thing that ISN'T hurting is his left leg.

9. Postseries handshakes: Guys can get into six fights during a series, but once one team has lost, they're there shaking the hand of that 10 minutes earlier was breaking their nose. It's beautiful. I love watching the losing team waiting for the winning team to celebrate and then congratulating each other.

10. The Cup: The best trophy in sports and it's not even close. Every person on the team gets their name on the cup. The other rings go to the hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. There's so much great tradition with the cup -- from the captain to be the first player to touch it, to each individual getting to skate around the ice with it before handing it to a teammate and then every player getting a chance to have it for a day during the off season. It's the most cherished and best trophy in all of sports, and it would have the best stories to tell, too.