As the calendar turns over a new year, the Cincinnati Cyclones again find themselves in a familiar place – battling for a spot in the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs.
The Cyclones, winners of 8 of their last 10 games, sit in second place in the Central Division just one point behind the Toledo Walleye. First-year coach Jason Payne has his team playing its best hockey just ahead of Monday's All-Star game. Before the break, a road game Saturday at the Kalamazoo Wings and Sunday at Heritage Bank Center against the Toledo Walleye await the Cyclones.
Payne caught up with The Enquirer Thursday to talk about his team's progress thus far:
The Enquirer: You and the boys are on a great run of late with the win streak and closing in on first place in the division. How would you summarize the last month?
Payne: It's a trying time for everyone's lineup with call-ups and COVID, but the boys are finding a way to dig down deep in their game and elevate their game to another level, so I'm pretty happy and pleased with their performance so far.
E: How were the holidays for the team with the travel and everything else?
P: Holidays are a trying time for everybody. I thought it was important for the boys to get home, get recharged and refreshed and get a little bit of time away from the rink to see their loved ones. To give them a different perspective to see that we're still playing hockey as opposed to some places in the world. But also to know that 'Hey, we have a job to do, we're playing a sport that we love, and let's go out there and let's give it all and not take it for granted.' I think it worked out on every angle.
E: What would you say stood out the most in the recent streak?
P: I think it's just more the realization for our team that everyone has a role and everyone's role is significant. Everyone has to pull the rope. It doesn't matter if you're a guy that's going to score goals for us, be an energy guy, or a guy that's going to kill penalties for us. It even goes down to our goaltenders. Everyone has a role and I always talk to them about following the mantra of 'just do your job. There's only one person that can be you and that's so. So, why not be the best person you can be?' So, they've found a way to do it and as you can see, the success has followed.
E: The calendar turns and teams start working toward playoff mode. Where is your team right now gauging the rest of the ECHL?
P: It's a day-to-day thing. For us, it's not necessarily worrying about the playoffs being right around the corner or coming up. I like to let our team focus on the process of getting to the playoffs. What's the process of getting to the playoffs? It's doing the right things today. Doing the right things in the games today is going to put you in the position that when you do get to the playoffs, there's no room for error and you'll be executing your jobs and doing the right things, which obviously leads to a successful playoff run if all goes well.
E: What would you say is the biggest obstacle to overcome right now?
P: Honestly, and it goes for any team and any player, is themselves. You can't get too high and can't get too low. You've got to stay consistent with your work ethic and stay consistent in the game plan. Don't get away from the game plan. When you're having success with something, you need to continue with it. The minute you get away from it is when the success you have goes out the window and you're scratching and clawing from behind. Consistency in work ethic and sticking to the game plan and not veering off course.
E: If you did a little self-scouting, how would you grade yourself this year?
P: I'm my worst critic – my toughest critic. I always want to get better and I'm not really grading myself, I grade on the performance of the team. So, right now, it's a bit too early to do that so I'll probably circle back with this question at the end of the season.
E: Fair enough. Have any players stood out above the rest?
P: There have been a few that stood out, but in all honesty it's a team effort. Our leaders have been great leaders from Justin Vaive to Jesse Schultz to Louie Caporusso and Dajon Mingo, but then you get to some of our young guys like Wyatt Ege who's going to be our All-Star. When it comes down to it, some of our other young guys we just got in from the CIS Sports (currently U Sports, it's the collegiate hockey system in Canada formerly known as Canadian Interuniversity Sport) from Graeme Brown and Justin Bean. You look back at some of our forwards, we have some new guys like Cody Caron who's brought a good forward presence. And then, some of the guys who've been here before. One of the pleasant surprises has been young Lincoln Griffin, who we picked up off waivers. He's just been able to take his game to another level. It's been exciting to watch these guys Gianluca Estevez come into their own. You know, with all these callups that we've had given their opportunities to shine. we've had players called up on numerous occasions - Matt McLoud, who I think is one of the fastest guys in the league, he's had the opportunity right now to be up with Bakersfield. And one of our top guys Yushio Hirono, he's getting an opportunity in Abbotsford. So, the callups are there as long as these guys go out there and do what they have to do. I'll do my best to help get them to the next level and help them achieve their goals. It's all in their hands when they get out on the ice, I'm just doing my best along with the coaching and training staff to get these guys ready.
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