Cyclones Submit Offers to Syroczynski and Macdonald

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Cincinnati Cyclones, Kelly Cup champions of the ECHL and affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League, announced they have submitted qualifying offers on eight players for the 2008-09 season, including former Clarkson forward Matt Syroczynski and former St. Lawrence defensemen Matt Macdonald.

Syroczynski played in 60 games and had 50 points (30-20-50) and scored the Kelly Cup winning goal in game six.

Macdonald split the campaign between Cincinnati and Rockford (AHL), playing in 34 games and assembling 14 points (3-11-14).

Each ECHL team was entitled to reserve rights to a maximum of eight (8) Qualified Players. Of these eight (8) Qualified Players, no more than four (4) of the Qualified Players shall be Veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played as of the start of the upcoming 2008-09 season). Players will have until August 1 to accept a qualifying offer. Players on open Qualifying Offers can not be traded. Players on assignment from NHL and/or AHL clubs cannot receive qualifying offers from ECHL teams.

Teams are not allowed to sign more than 24 players to contracts during the summer. Players that were not signed by July 1 or extended a qualifying offer by July 1 become unrestricted free agents.

"The 2008-09 season will be quite a challenge that Dean Stork (assistant coach) and I are looking forward too," Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber said. "We are a development league and with us experiencing success last year we will be witnessing many Cyclones being in high demand at other levels this upcoming season. We look for a core of returnees for next season and we will do our best to surround them with talented players to attempt to keep a consistent product on the ice."

The Cincinnati Cyclones will celebrate their Kelly Cup championship at their home opener, Saturday, October 25 versus Dayton at 7:30pm. Season tickets for the Cyclones are currently on sale and can be obtained by contacting the team's sales department at 513-421-PUCK (7825) . The season starts on Friday, October 17 at Wheeling.

The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams playing in four states, the Premier ‘AA' Hockey League has grown into a coast-to-coast league that will have 23 teams in 16 states and British Columbia playing 828 games from Oct. 17, 2008 to Apr. 4, 2009. Eighteen of the 23 teams have played at least five years in their current city.

The third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, the ECHL averaged 4,174 per game last season, marking the fourth year in row and the 16th time in the last 18 years that the league has averaged over 4,000 fans. The league has drawn over four million fans each of the last five years and eleven times in the past twelve seasons.

There have been 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 99 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons-including Greg Stewart, who played for the Cyclones in 2006-07.