Saturday, May 06, 2000
Cyclones seek the clincher
By John P. Wise
Enquirer contributor
One of two impressive trends will continue tonight at Orlando's TD Waterhouse Centre. Either the Cyclones will maintain their dominance in TD Waterhouse Centre this season and advance to the IHL Eastern Conference finals, or the Solar Bears will improve to 21-4 in postseason elimination games and force a seventh game Sunday.
Cincinnati split the first two games of the series in Orlando last week, then won the next two at Firstar Center. The Cyclones, up 3-1, had a chance to clinch the best-of-seven series Wednesday at Firstar, but Orlando's 3-1 victory prolonged the series.
“We were disappointed to lose that game,” Cyclones center Todd Simon said Friday. “We put ourselves in a good situation but came out flat Wednesday and couldn't get on track.”
Added Cincinnati Associate head coach Chris Cichocki: “We knew at the outset of the series it was going to be a long one.”
Defenseman Mike Rucinski agreed it would have been nice to clinch the series at home.
“We're going back to Orlando,” he said. “Of course we didn't want to, but it's playoff hockey and you've got to expect the other team to battle the way Orlando did (Wednesday).”
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