The Cincinnati Cyclones fell 3-2 to the Fort Wayne Komets for the second straight night, this time in regulation, gaining no traction in the Central Division playoff race.
In the standings, the only positive development Saturday was Kalamazoo’s regulation loss to Rapid City — the K-Wings remain two points behind Cincinnati in sixth place. The Cyclones now trail fourth place, held by Bloomington — the Bison walloped the Iowa Heartlanders 7-2, where Iowa’s head coach was ejected. Indy also won, pushing Cincinnati seven points back of third.
Kaidan Mbereko made his first professional start after four seasons at Colorado College (NCHC). He looked solid overall, minus one mistake — attempted to play the puck on the third goal — but the defense didn’t help him out. He still made plenty of strong breakaway saves and looked locked in throughout his debut – there’s a lot to like with the future of him.
Game Recap
Krebs opened the scoring for Fort Wayne five minutes into the game. His initial shot hit traffic, and he found the rebound in the low slot and beat Mbereko — a tough break for the rookie netminder early in his pro debut.
Midway through the second, Liam Kidney scored his first professional goal to tie the game 1-1. John Jaworski drove toward the net and centered a pass to a cutting Kidney, who tapped it home past Nathaniel Day.
Kidney, signed to an SPC a few weeks ago after finishing his season with Acadia University (USports), has now played seven games. Cincinnati’s third line struck again later in the period — this time Nick Rheaume scoring off the rush, capitalizing on a Jalen Smereck turnover to make it 2-1 late in the middle frame.
Around halfway through the third, Elijah Vilio took a holding penalty — grabbing a Komets player’s stick in a board battle — and it cost the Cyclones. Alex Aleardi then tied the game at 2-2.
Cincinnati then failed to clear the puck just 54 seconds later – Mbereko attempted to play it before falling down. He turned it over directly to Magera, who fought it home after it deflected off Vilio, giving Fort Wayne a 3-2 lead.
Cincinnati had opportunities to beat Fort Wayne both Friday and Saturday, and the refs missed some blatant calls including trips and an obvious cross-check, but the Cyclones still did not close out the Komets. They went 0-for-3 on the power play and took another penalty that led to the third period comeback.
Getting one of four possible points on the weekend was far from ideal, but now they have to regroup as they head west to Iowa next weekend for a three-in-three.
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