For Immediate Release: March 29, 2016

CYCLONES FALL IN BACK-AND-FORTH AFFAIR

Cincinnati’s Valliant Effort Comes up Short Against Division Rival

Cincinnati, OH- The Cincinnati Cyclones (34-24-5-4) fell to the Ft. Wayne Komets, 5-3, on Tuesday night. Forwards Christiaan Minella, Jack Downing, and Nick Huard scored the goals for Cincinnati.

After the Komets took a 1-0 lead on an early first period goal from forward Jamie Schaafsma, the Cyclones evened things up midway through the frame, when forward Levko Koper came over the left wing blueline on a broken 2-on-1 rush and sent a feed to Minella who wristed it past Ft. Wayne netminder Pat Nagle to tie the game, 1-1.

The Cyclones took the lead not long after, as Downing stole the puck in the defensive zone while shorthanded and fired a shot past Nagle to give Cincinnati a 2-1 edge.

The Cyclones’ 2-1 lead held up throughout the remainder of the first, and in the second the Komets struck again early in the frame when Schaafsma found the back of the net to tie the game, 2-2.  Ft. Wayne took the lead midway through the stanza when Garrett Meurs lit the lamp, giving the Komets a 3-2 edge.

Cincinnati was not deterred and managed to pull even with the Komets with under five minutes remaining in the period while on the power play, as Downing skated to the left wing half wall and sent a pass to Huard in the slot, and he fired a wrister past Nagle to tie the game, 3-3, after 40 minutes.

The Cyclones continued to pressure the Komets offensively in the third getting a number of quality scoring chances, however Meurs’ second of the night 11:30 into the final frame gave Ft. Wayne a 4-3 lead.

The Cyclones put together a late period rush that resulted in a few more offensive scoring chances, however an empty netter from forward Shawn Szydlowski with less than 30 seconds left sealed the 5-3 win for the Komets.

Cincinnati outshot Ft. Wayne, 26-15 on the night, with goaltender Andy Iles stopping 10 in the loss. The Cyclones wrap up their two-game homestand on Thursday night against the Indy Fuel, with the faceoff scheduled for 7:35pm ET.

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