Game 4 Preview: Iowa at Cincinnati

Heartlanders visit Cyclones, continuing 3-in-3

Cincinnati, OH – The Iowa Heartlanders (0-3-0-0, 0 pts.) visit the Cincinnati Cyclones (3-0-0-0, 6 pts.) Saturday at 6:35 p.m., continuing Iowa’s first 3-in-3 road trip of the season.The Heartlanders are coming off a 6-3 Friday at Kalamazoo. James Sanchez and Yuki Miura scored their first goals of the season for Iowa and Jake Durflinger tallied his first pro point. Kevin Conley registered his second power-play goal of the season.Cincinnati is hosting their home opener today; the Cyclones sported a 23-11-1-1 record at Heritage Bank Center last season, third best among Central Division teams. The Clones qualified for the postseason in the last week of 2021-22 regular season, finishing with 36 wins in 72 games before bowing out to the eventual Western Conference Champion Toledo Walleye.The Heartlanders are on the road Saturday at Cincinnati, Sunday at Wheeling and next Friday, Nov. 4 at Indy. The team’s next home game is Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2:00 p.m. vs. division rival Fort Wayne.Iowa is in the midst of a stretch where the club plays eight of ten away from Xtream Arena.Broadcast Coverage: Watch on flohockey.tv. Listen on mixlr.com/goheartlanders  Affiliates: Iowa Heartlanders (Minnesota Wild/Iowa Wild) | Cincinnati Cyclones (Buffalo Sabres, Rochester Americans)Last Time Out The Heartlanders received goals from James Sanchez, Kevin Conley and Yuki Miura in a 6-3 loss at the Kalamazoo Wings Friday.Bailey Brkin made 31 saves in his Heartlanders debut. Evan Cormier turned aside 27 in his first game with Kalamazoo.Sanchez’s goal, his first as a Heartlander, give him nine for his ECHL career. His strike cut the deficit to 3-1 late in the first. Iowa got no closer than that; despite making it 4-2 and 5-3, Kalamazoo responded with strikes each time to restore leads to three.Scouting the CyclonesUnder the instruction of second-year Head Coach Jason Payne, Cincinnati is looking to qualify for its its fourth straight postseason appearance (Cincinnati did not play in the 2020-21 campaign and the 2020 Kelly Cup Playoffs were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).Cincinnati has a strong group of returning scorers that they match with notable newcomers. Justin Vaive is in his eighth season playing with the ‘Clones and tallied 22 goals last campaign. Louie Caporusso matched Vaive with 22 tallies last season, one behind Jesse Schultz for the club lead. Cincinnati added one of the strongest veteran threats in the ECHL this summer, inking 30-year-old forward Matthew Berry to a contract (226 points in 215 ECHL games entering season).Former Landers netminder Trevin Kozlowski is currently on the Cincinnati roster. Kozlowski won the ECHL’s Community Service Award last season while with Iowa, dedicating much of his season to connecting with local veterans, active service members, and those in the reserve in Eastern Iowa. On the ice, Kozlowski battled to get nine wins for the Landers.Road Trip Mileage UpdateThis weekend is one of the most-challenging road weeks of the Heartlanders season; a three-in-three in three cities. The club plays each of its three games this weekend in different cities, none of which are closer than 220 miles from the other.In total, the Heartlanders will travel more than 1500 miles in this road three-in-three, including the drive back from Wheeling Sunday evening at the conclusion of the three-in-three. The Heartlanders are 650 miles in to the road trip entering Saturday’s contest.