Chicago beats RoughRiders, 6-5, on last-second goal

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jeff Dwyer asked how it went in. No one could really tell him.

The bottom line is that defenseman Dan Kolomatis' slap shot sneaked into the net with 4.2 seconds left to give the Chicago Steel a 6-5 victory over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders last night before 1,335 stunned fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Kolomatis' winner against Riders goalie Troy Grosenick came from the right faceoff circle off a loose puck. Oh, yeah, it came on the power play, too.

Stephen Collins of the RoughRiders was called for a high-sticking double-minor with 3:35 left after cutting a Steel player along the boards in the neutral zone. Cedar Rapids was just that close to killing off at least the regulation-time part of the penalty and picking up at least one standings point.

“Any time you take penalties in the third period ...,” said Riders acting head coach Dwyer. “I think we had a couple in the offensive zone there, or away from the play, that weren't classified as good penalties. You can't take those against a team with Chicago's skill.”

It's a weekend split for the teams who are tied atop the USHL's East Division with 7-3 records. Cedar Rapids won in suburban Chicago, 2-0, Friday night.

This was an up-and-down affair between teams that prefer to go up and down the ice. Cedar Rapids built a 3-2 lead after a period on goals from Eric Robinson, Collins and Peter Sakaris.

A Jordan DiGiando goal midway through the second gave the RoughRiders a 5-4 lead, but Greg Wolfe tied it for Chicago at 4:43 of the third, leading to Simokatis' heroics.

The Riders were without head coach Mark Carlson and players Jeff Costello, Mac Bennett, Derek DeBlois and Mike Parks, who are participating in an international tournament in Canada.

“A lot of guys got a lot of experience this weekend,” Dwyer said. “Hopefully, we can build off that. Hopefully some guys gained some confidence in their abilities to play in this league.”