O’Donnell back to defense for RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS – Matt O'Donnell was back in familiar territory Saturday night.

He was one of seven defensemen dressed for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in their 5-0 win over Green Bay at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

It's been a stressful last week or so on the ice for the 20-year-old Californian and University of Vermont signee. Because his team was so short-handed up front last weekend, due to injury and illness, for a pair of games at Muskegon, head coach Mark Carlson asked him to play center.

Never mind that the guy hasn't played the position before, let alone forward since he was 10 years old. You've heard of players being able to swing from defense to wing without too much issue, including at the NHL level.

But defense to center is unheard of.

'We had guys out, we had centers out,” O'Donnell said. 'I never practiced there, just got put into the games. Coach wanted me to play there to give the other guys a breather. I said sure.”

'He played a lot of roller hockey in California, so he's used to skating forward,” Carlson quipped.

O'Donnell did well enough that he was placed back into the lineup for Friday night's shootout win against Madison, even though the RoughRiders had a full complement of centers. Casey Jerry was a healthy scratch at the position.

Carlson's apparent motivational tactics worked wonders, as Jerry scored the first goal of Saturday night's game. The other healthy scratch from Friday, winger Hugh McGing, also had a goal.

O'Donnell, meanwhile, was moved back to right defense.

'We have everyone healthy for the first time since December, so we have some good competition going,” Carlson said. 'I thought (O'Donnell) played really well last week. We played him there out of necessity, but he played really well. I like the energy that he plays with. He is responsible, and he can skate. He made some plays (Friday) night. I'm sure he would have liked more ice (time), but I thought he played really good when he was out there.”

O'Donnell said he spent all this week in practice as a center. Versatility like that is a good thing for a club that remains just one point ahead of Youngstown for first place in the USHL's Eastern Conference.

'We're going to continue to see what we think,” Carlson said.

'He told me ‘Hey, you're going to practice at center this week because I thought you looked good there.' I was like ‘All right, I'll try it out,'” O'Donnell said. 'It's way more tiring. Way more tiring. A little more skating. And you have less time with the puck because you have people coming from behind you, as well as in front. As a defenseman, you usually have the whole play in front of you, so you can see everything. It's a little different.”

He feels good about what he's been able to do at center in such a short time playing there.

'Yeah, I think I've done all right,” he said. 'I won a couple of draws (faceoffs) out there. That's all you can ask for.”

Cedar Rapids (34-16-0, 68 points) played a pretty complete game, getting goals from five different players and a shutout from goaltender Ben Blacker. The Riders outshot Green Bay by a decisive 43-26 advantage.

'There were tons of positives,” Carlson said. 'I thought the second period we played as individuals at times … But overall I thought it was a good effort . (We got) goaltending, special teams, contributions from a lot of guys.”

Joe Wegwerth, Andrew Oglevie and Erik Foley also scored goals for Cedar Rapids. It was a great weekend for Blacker, as he won twice, allowing just one goal and stopping all three attempts in a shootout Friday.

He began the season as the number one goaltender for his club but hit a rough patch and has lost time to Ryan Larkin, who has played very well. If the Riders can get both of them going at the same time, look out.

This was Blacker's second shutout.

'In my personal view, a shutout isn't about what a goalie did. It's more about what a team did,” Blacker said. 'I look at what we did tonight. We stuck to the game plan, our forwards were backchecking extremely hard, our defensemen were standing up and shutting down a lot of plays and limiting their opportunities. I think overall this weekend has been a big confidence booster, not only for me, but the team as well.”

The RoughRiders have only one game next weekend, Saturday night at home against Madison.

Click on the 'Stats” icon at the top right of this post to view the official gamesheet.

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