Cyclones Keep Rolling with 2 Impressive Wins…

Posted on December 14, 2009 at 12:47 am by Clark Caughey

The Northern Cyclones senior team stated their intent for the 2009/10 NIIHA season on December 13, convincingly beating fellow title contenders Armagh Stars and East Coast Blaze to maintain top spot in the league over the Christmas break.

The first game of the day saw the Cyclones face off against the Stars in a game that was greeted with a lot of excitement. Having drawn in the preseason, both sides were determined to prove themselves as the better team.

Armagh drew first blood 75 seconds into the game as a pass by Glover ricocheted of the fore checking Stars player and into the Cyclones goal.

Despite dominating much of the position in the first period the Cyclones struggled to find an equalising goal. Some fluid passing and smart movement allowed the Cyclones a number of goal scoring chances however they were unable to see the puck over the goal line.

The Cyclones finally got onto the scoreboard with 1.10 left in the first. After a period of dominant pressure the Cyclones hard work finally paid off as Clark Caughey picked up a rebound from Richard Grace’s shot and blasted it through Szabe’s five-hole.

As the second period started, the Cyclones took the lead of the game for the first time. With Jaroslav Kerri serving a penalty for interference Mark Synnott put the Cyclones 2-1 up as he put home a pass from Dave Nicolai on the powerplay.

The Cyclones lead was to be short lived however as two strikes, 20 seconds apart, from Martin Olas and Tiago Lima respectively put Armagh in the driving seat once again.

At the mid point of the second drama exhumed as Stephen Mallon suckered Dave Nicolai. Chaos followed as both sides scuffled but after dishing out penalties referee Sandy Turner gave the Cyclones another powerplay opportunity. This chance was not wasted as Mark Synnott found Clark Caughey in the slot for his second of the day to tie the game at 3-3.

A minute later Mark Synnott put the Cyclones in the lead once again as he buried the puck over the netminders glove on a breakaway before adding his 4th point of the day… an assist on Richard Gault’s first and the Cyclones 5th.

Final Score: Armagh Stars 3-5 Northern Cyclones

After an hour break the Cyclones returned to the rink for their second game of the day, this time against old rivals East Coast Blaze.

As in the prior game the Cyclones found themselves chasing the game early as ECB took the lead 35 seconds in as Alec Rubbins lifted the puck over Brian Morrow’s blocker.

Falling behind early did not shake the Cyclones game plan however as 3 minutes later the Cyclones opened their account with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play involving Richard Gault and Mark Synnott that was finished at the back post by Clark Caughey as he tipped the puck through Mark Barritt’s five hole.

The Cyclones then took at lead at 5.10 as Dave Nicolai converted from Tony Sinton’s set-up play.

The flood gates where soon to open as Clark Caughey notched a further 2 goals, the first a wrap around and the second coming on the breakaway, for his hat-trick with only 11 minutes gone.

Stuart Fleck added a goal for the Blaze at 12.06 but this was soon canceled out as Tony Sinton’s unassisted effort ended the period at 5-2 to the Cyclones.

The second period followed a similar vein to the first as the Cyclones continued relentless pressure with goals from Tony Sinton, Richard Gault, Clark Caughey and Jonny Knox adding to the Cyclones comfortable lead.

Eamonn Denny added a consolation goal for the Blaze in the second however it was not enough to claw back a convincing performance from the Cyclones who finished the game as 9-3 winners.

Final Score: Northern Cyclones 9-3 East Coast Blaze