Didier's first 2 goals help Riders to 4-0 romp

CEDAR RAPIDS - First came Matt Donovan and Paul Phillips. Next comes Josiah Didier.

The University of Denver technically doesn't have a pipeline for defensemen in Cedar Rapids. It just seems that way.

Donovan and Phillips were standouts during their two-year stints as RoughRiders before moving on to one of college hockey's best programs. They are sophomores at UD and NHL draft picks.

Didier is in his first season in the City of Five Seasons. A Denver commitment, he doesn't yet have the accolades of his predecessors, though he appears to be working on them.

“Yeah, I've heard a lot about those guys,” Didier said after his two goals helped Cedar Rapids to a 4-0 win over Lincoln on New Year's Eve at The Stable. “Never met them.”

A 17-year-old from Littleton, Colo., Didier went his first 22 games in the USHL before picking up his first goal midway through the first period last night. He enjoyed scoring so much, he got another one just seven minutes later.

Both were of the same variety - shots from or just inside the right point that were deflected before going into the net.

“He's got a great future ahead of him,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. “He's another young player on our team. His future is bright, he's got great character, very coachable. He continues to improve, and we're starting to see the offensive side, which I know is there. He'll continue to develop that.”

At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Didier has the size to excel at the next level. He's first concentrating on getting better at this level.

“The beginning was hard,” he said. “But now I've played lots of games. Practices have really helped, working with the coaches a lot has helped develop me more and adapt faster to the game.”

The RoughRiders improved their USHL-best record to 19-4-2 and league-best point total to 40 with another dominant victory. Michael Parks scored in the second period and Cason Hohmann in the third to support the usual outstanding goaltending of Brady Hjelle.

Hjelle moved his outrageous (in a good way) record to 18-2-1 with a 26-save shutout, his fourth of the season. His goals against average dropped to 1.74 and his save percentage rose to .936.

The third turned chippy, with three fights that delighted the crowd of 3,243: two separate scraps that included Riders Tanner Pond and Greg Amlong and another on the ensuing faceoff featuring captain Jayson Megna.

“They played extremely hard and physical, and I thought we stood up to that,” Carlson said. “We continued to make plays. We've got to play with speed and make plays. We got that fourth goal (in the third period), which was important. And we had three guys drop the gloves.”

The Riders' official new backup goalie is Cole Bruns, who is replacing Michael Rotolo, who has returned to his Midget team in upstate New York. Bruns, 16, is from Prairie Grove, Ill., and the Team Illinois program, where he was 7-6-1 with a 2.26 goals against average and .925 save percentage for the U-18 team.

Here's a first-period power-play sequence in which defenseman Nolan Zajac hits the post on a wrist shot.