Bloomington rallies past RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders had their first fight of the United States Hockey League season Saturday night. That wasn't a good thing.

Adam Gaudette's bout with Bloomington's Ryan Siroky came at the end of the second period and earned the pair game misconducts. That took an important forward member out of the lineup and showed the opponent's tough-guy tactics were working.

Speed and skill, not rough and tumble is RoughRiders hockey.

'They got under our skin a little bit there,” said winger Tyler Gernhofer, after Bloomington handed Cedar Rapids a 4-2 loss before 2,344 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

'You don't win hockey games after the whistle is blown, you know?,” RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said. 'We've got to stay out of that stuff. But we'll learn from it.”

Bloomington scored three times in the third period to give Cedar Rapids (18-3) just its third loss of the season. All three have come at home.

'Don't read too much into that,” Carlson said.

Gerhnofer, acquired in a trade from Bloomington earlier in the season, gave the Riders a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the second period. Defenseman Derek Daschke's first USHL goal five minutes later made it a two-goal spread and appeared to have Cedar Rapids in full command.

That's when Bloomington started getting especially physical, with after-the-whistle pushing and shoving and other things that took away Cedar Rapids' focus. Jake Slaker made it a 2-1 game with 1:54 left, and Gaudette was goaded into his ill-timed fight by Siroky, who had challenged him earlier and dropped his gloves first.

Shane Bednard tied it on the power play with 11 minutes left, and Alec Mehr put the Thunder ahead for good with a wrister over Riders goalie Ben Blacker's glove with 8:23 to play. Cedar Rapids had a late power play, but Bednard's three-quarter ice clear rolled into an empty net with 48 seconds left to give Bloomington it's fifth straight victory.

'I just didn't think we competed for the whole game,” Carlson said. 'That, and not sticking to our game plan. It was those two things. We've got to play our game, and we didn't play our game for a little bit there.”

Cedar Rapids hosts Green Bay Wednesday night.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com