Cincinnati, OH – The Toledo Walleye won tonight’s game in overtime over the Cincinnati Cyclones at Heritage Bank Center, capped off by an overtime game-winner by the captain Brandon Hawkins. Hawkins finished with three points on the night, Colin Swoyer had the other two goals for Toledo, and Tanner Dickinson and Riley McCourt each had two assists on the night. 

How it Happened:

Cincinnati was the first team to get a power play opportunity, coming at the 7:02 mark of the first period on a holding penalty in front of the Toledo net. The Walleye were able to kill off the opportunity to keep the game scoreless. 

Colin Swoyer notched the first goal of the game in his first game back from Providence (his second goal of the season) to make the game 1-0. Brandon Hawkins and Tanner Dickinson each recorded assists on the goal, extending Hawkins’s point streak to 7 games. Toledo led Cincinnati in shots on goal, 12-8, heading into the second period. 

Toledo took a boarding penalty with 1:07 left to go in the second period, giving Cincinnati a chance at a power play for at least the remainder of the period. Each team got 11 shots on net in the second for shot totals by Toledo and Cincinnati of 23-19 respectively. Fifty-three seconds of the Cincinnati power-play would carry over to start the third period. 

The Cyclones capitalized on the power-play 28 seconds into the third period, as Zack Trott recorded the goal to tie it 1-1. Trott added on another goal a minute and a half later to give Cincinnati their first lead of the night at the 2:04 mark of the third period. 

The Walleye had several scoring chances throughout the third period but couldn’t find a way to get a puck past Cincinnati’s netminder Kyle McClellan. Toledo pulled the goalie with 2 minutes to go, and Colin Swoyer got his second goal of the night and third of the season at the 18:11 mark of the third period (1:49 to go) to tie the game 2-2. Brandon Hawkins got his second assist on the night, and Riley McCourt got the secondary assist on the goal. 

Regulation ended tied at 2 goals each, resulting in 7 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime. Cincinnati got the win the last time that the Walleye went to overtime at Heritage Bank Center back on November 18^th. Toledo got their first power play chance on the night as Colby Ambrosio got slashed on a breakaway at the 1:40 mark of overtime. Brandon Hawkins got his third point on the night and his 6^th goal on the season with the overtime winner at the 2:27 mark of overtime to seal the victory against Cincinnati. Tanner Dickinson and Riley McCourt got the assists on the game-winning goal.

Toledo capitalized on their only power-play chance of the night in overtime, as the penalty kill killed off one of Cincinnati’s two power plays. Toledo finished the game with 45 shots, their second highest shot total on the season, outshooting Cincinnati, who finished with 28.

Three Stars:

1 – G Kyle McClellan, CIN (41 SV, .931 SV%)

2 – F Zack Trott, CIN (2 G)

3 – D Colin Swoyer, TOL (2 G)

What’s Next:

The Walleye will have the day off tomorrow for Thanksgiving but return to action Friday at the Huntington Center against the Wheeling Nailers. Toledo finished the 2024-25 season with a 4-2-1-0 record against the Nailers in seven games. Puck drop for Friday’s game is set for 7:15 PM.