Saturday, October 30, 1999
CYCLONES 3, LONG BEACH 2
'Clones finally win at home
BY JOHN P. WISE
Enquirer contributor
Better late than never. The Cyclones needed more than 54 minutes to take the lead over Long Beach in an IHL game Friday night at Firstar Center.
Rookie Craig Adams scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season with less than six minutes left, and the Cyclones held on for a 3-2 win, their first home victory of the season.
Adams' four goals keep him in second place among IHL rookie goal-scorers.
“Had (Adams) not been a goal scorer, we wouldn't have cared so much because he plays so hard,” Cyclones Coach Ron Smith said. “It's nice to get rewarded for working hard.” Adams sounded as if his game-winner was nearly an accident.
“(Long Beach's) two guys were out in front,” said Adams, who controlled the puck almost uncontestedly to the right of the goal crease. “They didn't know who was going to come at me, so I just jammed it in.”
Cincinnati trailed 2-0 after a pair of first-period, power-play goals by Long Beach. But Gilbert Dionne sliced the deficit in half when he scored his third goal of the season just 54 seconds before the end of the period. His slap shot had enough velocity on it that Long Beach goalie Mike O'Neill's Gatorade bottle popped up about a foot in the air over the goal.
Dionne's eight points lead the team.
Shane Willis then raced down the right side 99 seconds into the middle period and fired a shot from inside the circle to beat O'Neill, who was 6-2-0 entering the game. The goal came less than a minute after a Cincinnati goal was negated because a Cyclone was twisting in the crease.
The Cyclones improved to 4-4-2 in front of 7,088, while Long Beach fell to 6-6-0.
“Anytime you lose a game like that, you want to bury it and move onto the next one,” said goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, who turned away 19 Long Beach shots. “When Craig scored that late goal (Friday), we were determined not to let this one slip away.”
Long Beach ....... 2 0 0—2
Cincinnati ....... 1 1 1—3
First period: LB Nemecek 1 (Gordon, Ekman) 10:55 (pp); LB Gordon 1 (Barrie, Ekman) 14:29 (pp); Cin Dionne 3 (Simon, Bancroft) 19:06.
Second period: Cin Willis 3 (C. MacDonald, Ustorf) 1:39.
Third period: Cin Adams 4 (Ruszinski, MacNeil) 14:13.
Shots on goal: LB 9-5-7=21; Cin 16-11-5=32. Goalies: LB O'Neill (29 saves); Cin Fitzpatrick (19). Power plays: LB 2-for-3; Cin 0-for-4. Attendance: 7,088.
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