Cincinnati, OH- The Cyclones opened the 2023-2024 regular-season with a 4-1 loss against the Wheeling Nailers. Cincy celebrated the “First Face-Off” at Heritage Bank Center in style with over 6,600 fans in attendance.
* Saturday night saw the Cyclones raise their 2022-2023 Central Division Championship banner prior to puck drop against the division rival Nailers. Wheeling captured the lead less than three minutes into the game with a goal from David Jankowski on the powerplay. Cyclones rookie forward Adam Berg electrified the Cincinnati crowd minutes later, cleaning-up a rebound off a James Hardie shot. Cédric Desruisseaux broke the tie later in the first period to give Wheeling a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
* Wheeling's Desruisseaux went on to score his second marker with a snipe on the powerplay, beating Olof Lindbom with 6:29 remaining in the middle frame. The Nailers continued their strong play into the third with Lukas Svejkovsky's man-advantage goal. Goaltender Taylor Gauthier turned away all remaining Cyclones' attempts, finishing with 30 saves in the victory.
* Next up, the ‘Clones hit the road for the first three-in-three of the season. Cincy travels to play Wichita next Friday the 27th, then heads south for games against Tulsa on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th . The Cyclones return home to Heritage Bank Center on Friday November 3rd at 7:30pm ET for “Shutout the Hate” night. Cincinnati will sport specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game.