Just Before Midnight
It seems like the Cyclones could be wearing a glass skate in the ECHL Playoffs.

Jonathan Roybal
MinorLeagueNews.com

05.01.03 --The 2003 Cincinnati Cyclones postseason run might be best described as a fairy tale.

The Cyclones are battling in a best-of-seven series against Atlantic City and are trying to pull off what, is generally believed to be impossible in sports. Rally from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series, and win it in Game 7.

Never in the course of the league's 15-year history has a team accomplished that feat.

Why should that matter to the Cyclones? After all, their critics never expected them to be in the Conference Finals in the first place.

The Cincinnati Cyclones finished the 2002-03 regular season sporting a record of 36-29-7, good for 79 points and third place in the East Coast Hockey League's Northwest Division.

The good news was they qualified for the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the second straight year. The bad news was the Cyclones drew the Peoria Rivermen, (who finished 24 points ahead in second place) in the first round.

Worse was the fact that Cincinnati had no real previous success against Peoria, losing six out of eight games this season, and 13 out of 18 overall.

Worse yet, the Cyclones had never won a playoff game in franchise history, swept in their lone postseason appearance last season.

Cincinnati was not deterred by previous history. They managed to knock 103-point Peoria from the playoffs in the first round 3 -1.

"Against Peoria we played much better defensively," said Cyclone Head Coach Malcom Cameron. "We were more conscious in our own zone because they are a really good team. They pounce on any mistake you make, so we tried to limit our mistakes so they wouldn't get too many easy chances to score."

Exorcising one demon, the Cyclones weren't able to celebrate for too long.

Their reward for beating second place Peoria was the opportunity to face first place Toledo Storm. The Storm finished one point ahead of Peoria, and earned the Brabham Cup as the ECHL's top team in the league.

The Cyclones didn't have history on their side for this series either, dropping 7 out of 9 to the Storm this season.

This time around, a Cyclone proved to be more powerful than a Storm. They proceeded to oust the Toledo from the playoffs, winning the series three games to one.

If they were intimidated by the Storm's accolades and recent triumphs against them, the Cyclones didn't show it.

"Against Toledo, our (regular season) games were a lot closer than what the score would indicate," Coach Cameron stated. "Within those losses there were 4 one goal games. We are pretty evenly matched, so with them we just tried to stick to our system and tried not to deviate from our game plan to play 60 tough minutes."

Beating the number one team in the land earned the Cyclones a trip to the Northern Conference Finals. They would be the underdog for the third straight series, facing off against the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies.

The Bullies looked every bit like the Northeast Division Champions early in the series, dominating the first three games behind the stellar goaltending of Scott Stirling, to go up 3-0.

With their backs against the wall, the Cyclones showed they had come too far to give up without one last gust.

They responded by winning games four and five at home, instantly shifting the momentum of the series in their favor.

Now just one game from knotting the series at 3-3, the Cyclones are hoping to force that unpredictable game seven, where we all know anything can happen.

Due to all the obstacles the Cyclones have had to overcome, everyone has been starting to perceive this club as another Cinderella story.

Even their Broadcaster Gregg DeVitto has been telling a tale of how his watch stopped ticking precisely at 11:55 PM on the eve of the playoffs.

Cyclone Head Coach Malcom Cameron acknowledges his team is the underdog, but falls short of calling them a 'Cinderella'.

"There's no question we feel like the underdog, and have felt that way all along. That's kind of our team identity right now." Cameron admitted. "We know who we are. We're not anything more than what we've been all season, and that's a hard working hockey club."

With the series heading to Atlantic City for games six and seven, there is some uncertainty whether this Cinderella will have one more dance at this year's ball. Unlike a fairy tale, in sports every story cannot have a happy ending.

Fortunately for the hockey fans in Cincinnati one thing is certain--

The clock hasn't struck midnight yet for the Cyclones.