Bennett wins it in OT for Riders, 4-3

CEDAR RAPIDS - You can call it a soft goal. But you've also got to call it a winning goal.

Defenseman Mac Bennett simply threw a puck at the net from outside the faceoff circle that somehow went in and gave the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders a 4-3 overtime win over the Waterloo Black Hawks last night before 2,982 fans at The Stable.

It wasn't the hardest shot the Montreal Canadiens draft pick has ever let go of, but the wobbling wrister went over the outstretched glove of Waterloo goalie C.J. Groh, who couldn't believe he didn't catch it. The goal came with 2:34 left in OT and salvaged a weekend in which the Riders were blasted Friday night by Sioux Falls, 8-2.

"I've been in that position before, where there's no way I'm going to get to the net," said Bennett. "It's tough to beat a guy one-on-one in this league, so Coach says just throw the puck on net and good things will happen. That's a perfect example"

It was Bennett's fourth goal of the season and gave Cedar Rapids (12-10-2) a just two points. The RoughRiders outshot Waterloo by a 45-27 margin and outchanced their I-380 rival by just as considerable a margin.

Yet they trailed going to the third period, 3-2, thanks in large part to Bryce Ravndalen's two short-handed goals for the Black Hawks.

"This makes the weekend a lot better for sure," said Bennett. "We kind of had a slip up last night against Sioux Falls. But like Coach said tonight before the game, that's over with. It's in the past, it's like it never even happened."

"I thought we played with a lot of pace tonight," Riders Coach Mark Carlson said. "For most of the game, we followed our plan."

Jeff Costello, feared to have a bad knee injury a week ago, tied this game on the first shift of the third period when he picked up a rebound of his own original shot at the side of the net and threw a backhander home at 35 seconds.

This was your typical Cedar Rapids-Waterloo game, high energy, physical and edgy at times. The RoughRiders had a solid first period, outplaying their opponent but coming out of it tied at 1-1.

Eric Robinson scored his eighth of the season at the 5:34 mark to put Cedar Rapids up early. After a Waterloo turnover, left winger Costello sprung Robinson just inside the Black Hawks blue line, with Robinson beating Waterloo goalie Groh on the blocker side.

The RoughRiders had other opportunities in the period that Groh thwarted, including a breakaway by Cason Hohmann. That proved pivotal when Ravndalen tied the game at 15:09 with his first shorty.

He intercepted a pass just inside the Waterloo blue line and skated free down the center of the ice, letting go with a wrist shot that appeared to beat Riders goalie Troy Grosenick five-hole (between the legs).

Ravndalen hurt Cedar Rapids again early in the second period, again short-handed. He went one-on-one into the Riders zone, took a shot that immediately deflected back to him, with the second chance wrister getting past Grosenick at the 5:38 mark.

The Black Hawks lead was short-lived, however, as Riders defenseman Bryce Aneloski tied it with a blast from the right point just 1:15 later. Waterloo went back ahead, 3-2, with just over four minutes left in the second on a Patrick Divjak goal. The Austrian was unchecked to the right of the goal and took a centering feed from behind the net from Jamie Hill for the slam dunk.

"When you shoot the puck as much as we did tonight, you increase your chances of scoring," Carlson said. "We had (45) shots, I think, and I don't think the shot clock was (correct).

The Riders have acquired goalie Cody Campbell in a trade from the Fargo Force of the USHL for a conditional draft pick. The 17-year-old from Colorado went 7-4 for Fargo this season with a 3.19 goals against average and .846 save percentage.

Carlson said goalies Eric Rohrkemper and Matt Hemingway are still property of the RoughRiders but are not with the team. Rohrkemper has gone back to his NAHL team in Topeka, Kan.

The RoughRiders play Tuesday night at

Green Bay, Friday night at

Team USA (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Saturday night at Indiana to wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule.