Blacker strong in net, Riders beat Madison in shootout

CEDAR RAPIDS - He stoned the last opponent and let loose with a stick-pumping celebration. His teammates sprinted out to mob him.

You could tell this one meant a lot to Ben Blacker. It meant a lot to the rest of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, too.

Andrew Oglevie scored as the first shooter, and Blacker stopped all three attempts he saw as the Riders beat Madison, 2-1, in a shootout Friday night before 3,378 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

A 17-year-old from Canada, Blacker began this season as the main man in net for the Riders. But his play has leveled off, and Ryan Larkin had gotten the four previous starts, including back-to-back games last weekend at Muskegon.

Perhaps that was why Blacker was so celebratory after stopping Madison's Haralds Egle, Mitch Hults and Charlie Gerard, in order, in the shootout. That followed a strong 65 minutes in regulation and overtime.

Announced the player of the game, he returned to the ice and threw a pair of T-shirts to the crowd, including one into a spirited section occupied by University of Iowa students. RoughRiders players saluted the students as they headed to their locker room.

'Every player in this league goes through periods of time where maybe they don't play as well as other times,” Riders Coach Mark Carlson said. 'It's a long season, we've got a lot of young kids on this team. There are going to be some of those situations. We've never over-analyzed it or thought anything of it. I've seen it tons of times. Ben was good a couple of weeks ago at Des Moines, and he was real good tonight.”

The Riders will stay in first place in the United States Hockey League's Eastern Conference for at least another day. They remain a standings point up on second-place Youngstown, which also won Friday.

'Madison is a real good hockey team. No question, no doubt,” said Carlson. 'That's a really, really good hockey club. We hung in there. There weren't a lot of special teams, we got a power-play goal that was huge for us.”

Man, if it wasn't for this team's heroics in extra time, you wonder where it would be. Definitely not in first place.

Cedar Rapids (33-16-0, 66 points) is a perfect 8-0 in games not decided in regulation. That's 3-0 in overtime and now 5-0 in shootouts.

Pretty amazing. The Riders host Green Bay on Saturday night at 7:05. They have 11 games remaining in the regular season.

Hults put Madison (19-17-10, 47 points) on the scoreboard first with a goal late in the first period. He found himself completely alone in front of the net, receiving a pass from Sam McCormick in the corner and beating Blacker.

Defenseman Charlie Curti tied it up for Cedar Rapids on the power play 4:37 into the second. The Riders had loads of possession time, with Dylan McLaughlin dangling around the net and finding Curti alone on top at the point.

His strong wrist shot beat Madison goaltender Darren Smith glove side for his fifth goal of the season.

While their nearest division competitors (Youngstown, Muskegon and Dubuque) all made significant trades at Monday's USHL trade deadline, Cedar Rapids and head coach/general manager Carlson stood pat. They will go with the team that has gotten them this far.

'Coach stressed to us after the deadline that we traded for a guy named ‘Chemistry,'” Oglevie said. 'Team chemistry is what we're looking for, and I think we have it. We play for each other and win for each other. We go out there and perform. I think that's the main thing we're looking at, as far as our advantage.”

Co-captain Oglevie and center Adam Gaudette both returned to the lineup Friday after missing last weekend. Oglevie missed a three weeks with a concussion.

'I had to work some rust out, but I felt better and better as the game went along,” said Oglevie, the team's second-leading scorer. 'I was pretty happy with the way I felt, actually.”

Forwards Casey Jerry and Hugh McGing did not dress as healthy scratches. Defenseman Matt O'Donnell moved up to play center, which he did out of necessity last weekend at Muskegon because of injuries.

This wasn't out of necessity but Carlson's choice.

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