RoughRiders rally for OT win over Bloomington

CEDAR RAPIDS - Their coach bristled when asked if this one felt at least a little bit better than normal.

It's that one-game-at-a-time, live-in-the-moment philosophy that has served Mark Carlson and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders so well over the years.

But ask the players how nice Saturday night's 4-3 overtime win over Bloomington felt. Their answer was pretty darned good.

'When you're going through one of those tough streaks where you're not winning every night, it's definitely a big deal to get a big win,” said Cal Burke. 'Especially after a loss like we had last night. It's just good to have a winning streak again.”

It was Burke who had the winner, stuffing home a perfect centering feed by teammate Adam Gaudette with 1:46 left in the extra session. Gaudette circled low with the puck to the bottom of the faceoff circle and threw a pass across the goal mouth that an on-charging Burke banged in.

'One of the things our coach always tells us is go to the net hard,” said Burke. 'In overtime, you've got to do those little things. You've got to be tough and get to the front of the net. That was my mindset the whole time there.”

'I looked up and saw Burkey going really hard through the middle,” Gaudette said. 'I went wide with the puck, threw him the pass, and he just tapped it in.”

The RoughRiders (22-8) rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to win for just the second time in seven games. Casey Jerry and Erik Foley had goals 1:24 apart in the first period to tie it at twos, then Andrew Oglevie re-tied it 6:45 into the third.

This was the first time in nine games Cedar Rapids had virtually a full lineup of regular players. Four guys missed games winning gold at the World Junior ‘A' Challenge in Canada before the holiday break, then Gaudette, Ross Colton and Joey Marooney missed Friday night's game at Dubuque via coach's decision.

Carlson said it was not for a violation of team policy but wouldn't be specific. There is still bad news player-wise, as third-year defenseman Clark Kuster is out two months with a separated shoulder incurred in a New Year's Eve loss at Green Bay.

'Give our guys a lot of credit for climbing back into it after getting down 2-0 and then 3-2,” Carlson said. 'They kept battling. The third period was our best period.”

Cedar Rapids outshot Bloomington by a 6-5 margin in the third but had sustained offensive pressure.

'Our team, and people that are close to our team, need to understand that this is a process,” Carlson said, getting back to the even-keel thing. 'We've got a long, long way to go. I think a lot of people don't understand that. We played OK tonight, and that's about the extent of it. We have to learn to play more as a team, we need to learn to work every shift. We're just going through the process, and we're only halfway through the year. This was part of the process tonight, finding a way to get the job done and playing way better in the third.”

Carlson was assessed a game misconduct at the conclusion of the game for abuse of officials. He and referee Matt Larson had a verbal spat as the two left the ice.

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