 |
| Power
Play |
21.5%
- 2nd |
| Penalty
Killing |
76.0%
- 7th |
| FORWARDS |
| DARYL
MOORE |
28-44-72
(+18) |
| JASON
CASSELLS |
22-40-62
(+5) |
| ALLAN
SIROIS |
29-30-59
(-11) |
| DEFENSEMEN |
| KRISTJAN
JEFKINS |
1-13-14
(+2) |
| ADAM
GEBARA |
2-6-8
(-2) |
| ALEX
HAGER |
1-6-7
(0) |
| GOALTENDERS |
| KEVIN
DRUCE |
10-12-2
(0 SO)
3.79 GA
.884 PCT |
|
| ADAM
GERAGOSIAN |
7-8-1
(0 SO)
3.79 GA
.886 PCT |
|
 |
|
 |
| |
Twin
City vs Jacksonville |
|
|
SCHEDULE |
| 1 |
MAR.
28 |
TWIN
CITY 3 - JACKSONVILLE 4 |
SEED
5 |
2 |
MAR.
30 |
JACKSONVILLE
7 - TWIN CITY
3 |
SEED
2 |
23-25-4
(50) |
3 |
APR.
2 |
TWIN
CITY vs JACKSONVILLE |
30-17-5
(65) |
| Jacksonville
Wins Series 2-0 |
|
SERIES
PREVIEW |
| by
Don Money - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Jacksonville,
FL - During the final week of the SPHL
season, the Twin City Cyclones and Jacksonville Barracudas
played a home and home set of games. As the Barracudas
took both contests, little did either team know that they’d
be meeting in the first round of the playoffs.
That will be the case come Friday night when the fifth
seeded Cyclones travel to Jacksonville for Game 1 of their
series with the second seeded Barracudas. The best-of-three
match-up was created on the final night of the season
when Twin City upended the Richmond Renegades while the
Huntsville Havoc were falling victim to Knoxville. Game
2 is scheduled for Sunday in Winston-Salem.
For the Twin City club, making the playoffs is a noteworthy
fete. Last season, while residing in Florence, South Carolina
as the Pee Dee Cyclones, they fell out of postseason contention
much earlier than fans had hoped. A relocation to Winston-Salem
and a new attitude later, coach Mark Richards has his
young team in the hunt.
“I think we’ve worked hard. With as young as we are, for
those guys to battle and learn pro hockey in their first
year and get us a playoff spot is a compliment to them,”
Richards said.
The youth of the Cyclones starts back in the nets. After
starting the season with three goaltenders on the roster,
Kevin Druce persevered and earned the number one slot.
Although his numbers maybe don’t say as much, his 10 wins
and 3.86 goals against average were respectable. During
the season, he had flashes of brilliance that make him
capable of stealing a game or two. His backup, Adam Geragosian,
went 7-8-1 with a 3.79 goals against after joining the
team after the first of the year.
On the blue line, the roster has been in flux for much
of the season. Tyler Wooddisse, thought by many to be
the star of the group, has spent as much time away on
call-ups as he has in the lineup. With the likes of Adam
Gebara (2-6-8, minus-2), Jozef Kubaliak (0-7-7, minus-7)
and Ryan Bartle (1-3-4, plus-6) patrolling the line. Richards
sought some veteran help and found it in Gavin Hodgson
(1-4-5, plus-5) who was acquired in a trade with Huntsville.
Alex Hager (1-6-7, even) and Justin Schmit (1-3-4, minus-5)
joined the team late in the season.
Up front, Twin City has plenty of talent and leadership.
Captain Allan Sirois (29-30-59, minus 11) is the heart
and soul of the franchise and plays with passion. John
Gurskis (17-35-52, minus-2) is a great locker room presence
and a true student of the game. Daryl Moore (28-44-72,
plus-18) is a threat to score anytime, especially on the
penalty kill where he leads the league with seven short-handed
goals. Throw in winger Jason Cassells (22-4062, plus-5)
and SPHL Rookie of the Year Taylor Hustead (25-21-46,
plus-1) among others and the Cyclones have the potential
to be very dangerous.
According to Richards, a huge key to his team’s success
will be harnessing the exuberance of the young players,
especially when things are tough.
“I think we get a little out of character sometimes when
things aren’t going well. We really have got to learn
to be a little more poised,” he said. “Intense hockey
really drives the emotions up a lot. We’ve got a lot of
emotional guys that need to be a little more reserved
and understand that there’s only one goal in the playoffs
and that is to win. You have to take what is given to
you and work for the extra and everything usually works
out in those scenarios.”
On the other side of the ice, SPHL Coach of the Year Rick
Allain has been at the helm of one of the steadiest ships
in the league. Since coming in as coach last season, he
has stabilized the roster and shown an uncanny skill for
making the right moves at the right time.
One of those moves was to bring back goaltender Ryan Person.
Last year, the Barracudas rode Person’s spectacular play
all the way to the finals. This season, he missed more
than a month due to injury and has been slowly working
his was back, which is indicated by his 15-14-1 record
and 3.65 goals against average. Backup Tim Haun proved
himself to be more than capable, going 13-3-3 while posting
a league best 2.45 goals against average and .920 save
percentage.. Still, Allain is confident that Person will
be the man in the postseason.
“We brought him (Person) back for this reason. He’s a
money goaltender,” Allain said. “Our team hasn’t been
tip top defensively of late and the numbers might not
reflect it but I think Ryan’s rounding into postseason
form. I think he’s been pretty good over the last few
weeks.”
Allain has been happy overall with his defensive units.
After starting the year with Shane Wagner (1-20-21, plus-17),
Andrew Morris (5-18-23, plus-12), Connor MacDonald (2-11-13,
minus-2) and Billy Rochefort (0-2-2, minus-3) as the anchors,
Allain made a deal with Richmond and brought in Craig
Geerlinks (3-19-22, plus-18) who immediately became a
mentor to the younger players. Later on, he picked up
Chad Swartzentruber (9-28-37, plus-3) off of waivers to
add even more offensive punch and toughness.
Up front, captain Kahlil Thomas (30-45-75, plus-25) has
found the fountain of youth and is playing like a youngster.
Snipers Chris Rebernik (32-35-67, plus-17), Ryan Webb
(27-29-56, plus-6) and Jim Murphy (14-22-36, plus-3) add
offense up and down the lineup. Rob Colangelo (20-28-48,
plus-9) and MAHL survivor Frank Furdero (8-10-18, plus-1)
bring speed and energy.
“We’ve been scoring a lot of goals but we have to make
sure we’re doing the right things. You’re not going to
win too many shootouts this time of year,” Allain said.
“I think we have some balanced scoring up front and we’re
pleased with that.”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com.
|
|
|
Game
1 |
Jacksonville
7 - Twin City 2 |
| by
Don Money - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Jacksonville
Leads Series 1-0 |
Jacksonville,
FL - Tyrone Garner of the Jacksonville
Barracudas has become known as a heads-up player. He has
proven himself to be one of the smartest players on the
roster.
Friday night, he literally used his head to score what
proved to be the decisive tally as the Barracudas edged
the Twin City Cyclones 4-3 in Game One of their best-of-three
SPHL playoff series at Jacksonville Ice. The game winner
deflected off of his helmet and past Cyclones net minder
Kevin Druce with just under eight minutes left in regulation.
Jacksonville can sweep the series with a victory in Game
Two Sunday in Winston-Salem.
“That’s part of playoff hockey. Just go to the net and
at this time of year things seem to go off of you if you’re
in front of the net,” Garner said.
Despite having met twice a week ago, the Cyclones and
Barracudas took a little bit of time for the juices to
start flowing. Jacksonville had a decided advantage with
three power plays in the opening period but was denied
by Twin City’s second ranked penalty killing unit. The
visitors dented the scoreboard first at the 8:32 mark
when Taylor Hustead’s innocent looking shot to the front
of the net was deflected by Daryl Moore over a surprised
Tim Haun in the Jacksonville net.
“I liked the way we played physical hockey,” Twin City
coach Mark Richards said. “I think Sunday if we play like
we did in the first and third periods for sixty minutes,
we’ll be all right.”
Whatever Jacksonville coach Rick Allain said between periods
seemed to wake his team up in the second. The tide began
to turn fully in the home team’s favor when Twin City’s
Paul Falco slashed Barracudas’ forward Geoff Rollins and
referee Joe Sullivan awarded Rollins a penalty shot. Even
though Druce stopped Rollins, it was just the beginning
of the onslaught.
Jacksonville finally converted on a power play at the
6:52 mark when Chris Rebernik found Kahlil Thomas wide
open in the face-off circle. Thomas made a beeline for
the shot and fired a quick wrist shot past Druce to tie
the game. A little over five minutes later, Rollins grabbed
a loose puck and fired at the net. Druce made the save
but the rebound found the stick of Barracudas Jim Murphy
who deposited it into the back of the net to give Jacksonville
the lead. The period was capped and Jacksonville Ice’s
roof was nearly blown off at the 19:11 mark when Jacksonville’s
Craig Geerlinks skated though center ice, hit the Twin
City Blue line and unloaded a cannon blast that beat Druce
low to the stick side for a 3-1 margin.
“I just think it was a physical thing. When you’re uptight
or anxious, sometimes the motor mechanics of the body
don’t work as smoothly as you’d like. That probably forced
us to be a half a step slow (in the first period),” Jacksonville
coach Rick Allain said. “It was just a matter of calming
everybody down and focusing on a couple of little things
that we needed to do. We came out and got skating a little
bit better in the second period.”
Midway through the third period, the game turned into
a shootout. Twin City cut the margin to 3-2 at 5:17 when
Alex Hager fired a shot at the Jacksonville net that deflected
a couple of Jacksonville players and past Haun. Then at
8:16, while on a power play, Geerlinks fired from the
point. The shot went high, striking Garner’s head and
caroming past Druce. Brady Heintz answered for the Cyclones
at 9:03, taking a feed from Allan Sirois and firing through
a screen to beat Haun.
Down the stretch Twin City pressed for the equalizer but
Haun and the Barracudas’ defense shut the door. Despite
having their collective backs to the wall, Richards thinks
his team did enough positive things that bode well for
the Cyclones as they head home.
“We’re going to be competitive,” he said. “We’re confident
going back home that we’re going to play hard, come out
(and win Sunday) and be back here Wednesday night.”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com |
|
| Game
2 |
Twin
City 3 - Jacksonville 3 |
| by
Don Money - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Jacksonville
Wins Series 2-0 |
Winston-Salem,
NC - Not too long ago, Frank Furdero was
reeling from his team and the league it played in suspending
operations midway through the season. Sunday afternoon,
he left the Twin City Cyclones wishing that the MAHL was
still playing.
Furdero scored two first period goals on the way to a hat trick and four points to lead his Jacksonville Barracudas to a 7-3 victory over the home standing Cyclones, sweeping the best-of-three first round playoff series. The win earned Jacksonville a spot in the semifinals against the Fayetteville FireAntz - a rematch of last season’s championship series.
Twin City came out confidently in the first, notching the first five shots on net, all of them stopped by Barracudas’ goalie Tim Haun. Jacksonville took the cue from Haun and on its first power play cashed in when Ryan Webb and Kahlil Thomas combines to set up Furdero who beat Cyclones’ net minder Kevin Druce. As it had during the third period in Game One, Twin City responded when captain Allan Sirois and John Gurskis drew assists as Brady Heintz at the 11:36 mark. Late in the stanza, Furdero capitalized on his penchant for being in the right place by stealing the puck in the slot and beating Druce to restore the Barracudas’ lead.
Jacksonville’s bottom-rated power play found the mark again three minutes into the second period when Jim Murphy’s shot was stopped by Druce but Geoff Rollins got to the rebound and poked it home. Speedster Rob Colangelo extended the lead to 4-1 when he cleaned up the rebound of a Craig Geerlinks shot. Adam Gebara got one of those back for Twin City, scoring off of a face-off at 11:58 to draw the Cyclones within 4-2.
Furdero completed his hat trick early in the third when he stole the puck and drove home a slap shot from the high slot. Steve Obelnicki cut the lead to 5-3 when he tipped in a Sirois shot. It would be as close as Twin City would get as they took three damaging penalties in the final six minutes, including a devastating too many men on the ice infraction while down a man and trying to pull Druce for an extra attacker. Jacksonville made them pay as Chris Rebernik and Connor MacDonald lit the lamp on the power play in the waning moments to blow the game wide open.
In the series, Jacksonville’s power play connected on six of 14 opportunities while Twin City went one for eight with the man advantage. Haun, making his second straight start for the Barracudas, finished with 30 saves while Druce finished his first campaign with Twin City by stopping 26 shots.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com |
|
|
 |
|
 |
| Power
Play |
17.3%
- 7th |
| Penalty
Killing |
85.1%
- 1st |
| FORWARDS |
| KAHLIL
THOMAS |
30-45-75
(+25) |
| CHRIS
REBERNIK |
32-35-67
(+17) |
| RYAN
WEBB |
27-29-56
(+6) |
| DEFENSEMEN |
| C.
SWARTZENTRUBER |
9-28-37
(+3) |
| ANDREW
MORRIS |
5-18-23
(+12) |
| CRAIG
GEERLINKS |
2-15-17
(+17) |
| GOALTENDERS |
| RYAN
PERSON |
15-14-1
(1 SO)
3.65 GA
.894 PCT |
|
| TIM
HAUN |
13-3-3
(1 SO)
2.45 GA
.920 PCT |
|
|
|
