Those in their seats at Heritage Bank Center were rewarded early Thursday night when Cyclones wing Jesse Schultz picked up his 1,000th professional point 18:23 into the first period. The Cyclones went on to defeat the Allen Americans 3-2 to improve their record to 26-20-3-0.
For Schultz of Strasbourg, Saskatchewan, the prized point came in his 1,128th professional game came on a rebound. It was his 15th goal of the season and 384th of his 19-year career.
"It was pretty cool," Schultz said of reaching 1,000. "To do it on a goal was cool and to have Vaiver (Justin Vaive) get an assist on it was pretty special. He's been a really good friend of mine and I've played with him for four years. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. The game of hockey has given me so much. It's allowed me to travel and see the world. I can't be more thankful for how awesome the game has been to me."
Schultz will turn 40 on his next birthday, putting him just a bit younger than Cyclones coach Jason Payne who is 46. He has played for 19 teams in his career with his first goal coming in the 1999-2000 season with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League in Washington.
His best season scoring-wise came in 2002-2003 with 104 points in 72 games for the Kelowna Rockets of British Columbia also in the Western Hockey League. After four seasons with Manitoba in the American Hockey League, Schultz played two games with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks during the 2006-2007 season.
He has thrice been a Cincinnati Cyclone playing in 2017-2018 with 18 goals and 75 points in 72 games before taking a five-game stint with Nove Zamky Mikron HC of Slovakia. He returned for two more seasons and 47 more goals between 2018-2020 then played last season in South Carolina for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
Schultz returned to the Cyclones this season and is at 15 goals through 49 games seemingly on pace to reach his recent scoring averages in the ECHL for Cincinnati.
Both goaltenders in Thursday's game have been up to the NHL this season. Michael Houser just came to the Cyclones after appearing for the Buffalo Sabres. He and Allen's Antoine Bibeau combined for 59 saves on 62 shots.
The Cyclones led the game 3-0 into the second period but Allen, the NHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken was able to cut the deficit to one with just more than nine minutes to play.
Houser and the Cyclones hung on with Houser collecting 25 saves on the night. Schultz will be looking to add to his career point totals again Saturday night when the Cyclones again host the Americans.
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