Cinncinnati - 12.11.02 - Cincinnati busted out with an offensive explosion this past week, earning three victories to extend its winning streak to five games and its home winning streak to seven games.

The undefeated week helped the Cyclones move into third place in Northwest Division, one point behind second place Peoria, with their sights set on the front running Toledo Storm.

The seven-game home winning streak and the five-game winning streak overall are both the longest active streaks in the ECHL.

The Cyclones outscored their opponents 22-3 last week, raising their scoring average from 3.53 goals per game to 4.05 goals per game, best in the ECHL.

Not to be out done, their stingy defense lowered their goals allowed average from 2.89 goals per game to 2.64 goals per game, now ranking second in the league.

The Cyclones set a couple of ECHL season highs in an 8-0 win over Wheeling on Saturday. The eight-goal winning margin is the largest in the ECHL in 2002-03 and Cincinnati's six goals in the second period tied the ECHL high for second-period goals.

After not having a player score a hat trick since returning to Cincinnati in 2001-02, the Cyclones had two hat tricks in three games last week.

Joe Cardarelli had three goals in Wednesday's 8-2 win over Johnstown and Matt Noga had his first career hat trick in Saturday's 8-0 win over Wheeling.

Cardarelli, signed by Cincinnati as a free agent on November 17, has seven goals in his last three games and 10 goals in 10 games for Cincinnati, ranking him second on the team behind Noga, who has a team-leading 11 goals in 22 games.

In his last five games, Noga has scored 11 points (6g-5a) giving him 27 points, second on the team behind Ryan Gaucher, who has 28 points (6g-22a).

Gaucher has 12 points (2g-10a) in his last five games and ranks second among ECHL defensemen in assists and scoring.

The 5-11, 210-pounder finished the week with eight helpers, including four in the 6-1 win over the Titans on Friday and three in the shutout on Saturday, extending his point streak to seven games (2g, 12a).

Between the pipes, Mark Kielkucki is 3-0 with a 0.86 goals against average [GAA] while Greg Hewitt is 2-0 with a shutout and a 2.63 GAA during the winning streak. Combined, the duo owns the best GAA in the league at 2.62.

When either team landed in the sin bin, the Cyclones seemed to have the advantage, going 5-for-15 on the power play and a perfect 12-for-12 on the penalty kill this week. 

That great performance raised their power-play percentage to 23.25 and their penalty-killing percentage to 86.40, both good for third best in the league.

The Cyclones have two road games this week, at Roanoke on Friday and at Atlantic City on Sunday, not an easy task to keep the streak intact.