The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cincinnati Cyclones take a 2-0 lead over the Toledo Storm into Game 3 tonight in the best-of-5 East Coast Hockey League Northwest Division finals series at U.S. Bank Arena.

The Cyclones are one win from advancing to the Northern Conference finals, which are the league's Kelly Cup semifinals.

Before the playoffs began, not many followers of the ECHL would have picked Cincinnati as a team to have much success in the postseason.

The Cyclones, after all, were the third-seeded team in their division behind league powers Toledo and Peoria, whom they have already ousted.

But, here they are. On the verge of knocking out the league's top two teams, regular-season record wise, in back-to-back rounds to open the playoffs.

Part of the Cyclones' inspiration for this amazing run can be found in "The Stick."

"The Stick" is a goaltender's stick that was wrapped in white hockey tape on the bus ride to Peoria before Game 1 of that series. "The Stick" was then passed player to player and signed with the name or names of a person that each member of the Cyclones wanted to dedicate their performance in the post-season to.

Each player had the floor to talk a little about their selection and why that person was chosen as their inspiration.