Sunday, November 21, 1999
Cyclones 5, Cleveland 1
BY JOHN P. WISE
Enquirer contributor
Shane Willis is no magician, but his hat trick Saturday made the Cincinnati Cyclones' memories of Friday's close loss at Cleveland disappear.
Willis scored three goals to help Cincinnati earn a split of the IHL weekend home-and-home series with the Lumberjacks. The Cyclones' 5-1 victory at Firstar Center puts them back to within a point of Cleveland in the Eastern Conference standings.
“Hopefully, we can take this win and go on a little bit of a streak,” said Willis, whose first pro hat trick gives him a team-high 11 goals. He's also third on the squad with 19 points and has five goals and four assists in his last four games. “As a player, sometimes you need some games to get in a groove and go on a streak.”.
Cincinnati improves to 9-8-3 while Cleveland, atop the conference most of the season's first five weeks, falls to 10-9-2.
“I said a year ago if we were .500 after 20 games I wouldn't be happy,” Cyclones coach Ron Smith said. “But I like the way we're playing.”
Cincinnati is now 10-0-2 in its last 12 games against the Lumberjacks, and 17-1-2 in the last 20 meetings.
Friday's game saw Cleveland tie the game with only 1.8 seconds left, then win 5-4 in the shootout. But Cincinnati goalie Mark Fitzpatrick would not let Cleveland muster that type of offense again Saturday.
Fitzpatrick, fresh off his two-game IHL suspension for his participation in a fight against Orlando Nov. 13, stopped 34 shots en route to No. 2 star of the game honors. “He was excited to come back and he wanted to show he could play well again,” Willis said of Fitzpatrick. “He stepped up for us.”
Cleveland ....... 0 1 0—1
Cincinnati ....... 1 3 1—5
First period: Cin, Willis 9 (unassisted) 8:56.
Second period: Cin, Simon 3 (Dionne, Tselios) 9:14; Cin, Willis 10 (Dionne, Bancroft) 11:29; Cle White 10 (Tolkunov, Paek) 13:17 (ppg); Cin, Adams 6 (Rucinski, Hawkins) 19:03.
Third period: Cin, Willis 11 (Ustorf) 3:18.
Shots on goal: Cle 3-20-12=35; Cin 13-13-10=36. Goalies: Cle Nabokov (31 saves); Cin, Fitzpatrick (34). Power plays: Orl 1-for-6; Cin 0-for-2.
Attendance: 8,135.
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