Monday, February 07, 2000
LOCAL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Ducks on thin ice in playoff quest
BY JOHN P. WISE
Enquirer contributor
If the IHL and AHL seasons ended today, the Cyclones would be in the Turner Cup playoffs for the seventh straight year, while the Mighty Ducks would be shut out from the Calder Cup playoffs for the third time in their three years in Cincinnati.
The Cyclones split a pair of home games with Kansas City to reach the 50-point plateau over the weekend, and the Ducks took two of three games in a three-day stretch.
The Cyclones are in fifth place of the Eastern Conference of the IHL, which will take the top five teams in each conference for the playoffs. Sixth-place Michigan, against whom the Cyclones have earned four wins in six games this year, is nine points behind Cincinnati. The teams meet two more times this year.
Fourth-place Milwaukee was three points ahead of the Cyclones before its game Sunday against streaking Orlando, in third place with 61 points.
Cincinnati plays the Admirals three more times this year, beginning Saturday in Milwaukee. That will be the middle game of the Cyclones' five-
game road trip that begins Wednesday at Kansas City. It also will be Cincinnati's third game in four nights.
A potential roadbloack for the Cyclones could be their 14 remaining meetings with conference front-runners Cleveland and Grand Rapids.
While the Ducks picked up four points over the weekend, the fifth-place team was still 15 points behind fourth-place Hershey entering Sunday's games.
Catching the Bears could be difficult, considering they are one of four teams atop the Mid-Atlantic Division within three points of each other. Louisville (65 points), Kentucky (63) and Hershey (62) all played home games Sunday, while Philadelphia (63) was idle.
With nine weeks left in the season, Cincinnati would need to make up about two points per week on the rest of the division.
The Ducks have only a combined 12 more games against Mid-Atlantic teams, and spend most of March playing non-divisional games.
“We know we have to play desperate hockey,” said Ducks' center Bob Wren, who recorded the game-winning goal Saturday, as well as his 200th point as a Mighty Duck.
Added goalie Gregg Naumenko: “We're in last place, and I just want to win. We'll do whatever it takes.”
PEOPLE WATCHING: With the Cyclones' fourth crowd this season in excess of 10,000 Saturday, the team has pushed its attendance total to 184,447 at Firstar Center. In their 26 home games, they've averaged 7,094.
The Ducks drew almost 14,000 for their two weekend games for a season average of 5,124 for 28 home dates.
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