A rare bad outing for the RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - This was the most quiet the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders locker room has been postgame for awhile. A long while.

Guys sat wordless at their dressing stalls, the unzipping of the velcro on their pads the only sounds you heard.

'We don't like to lose,” said winger Erik Foley.

They haven't lost like they lost Thursday night all season. Madison took it to them, thoroughly outplaying them in a 5-2 game at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

This was one to forget.

'They just outworked us,” said Foley, who had both Cedar Rapids goals. 'They came to play. We had a pretty good first 10 minutes, and after that we kind of fell apart. We had some guys going, some guys not going. Kudos to Madison. They came to play tonight.”

The RoughRiders dropped to 20-5, with four of those losses oddly coming at home. It took 23 games for them to trail after two periods in a game, and they rallied to win it last weekend at Fargo.

So this was strange. Cedar Rapids plays Friday night at Madison, then disperses for a few days for the holidays.

Coach Mark Carlson was asked if he thought his boys may already have mentally checked out for the break.

'I don't know,” he said. 'That's something you'll have to ask them.”

'Honestly, I think it gets everyone more excited to play,” Foley said. 'You've got two more games left, and you're not going to play for a week. You want to play hard and go home feeling good.”

Freddy Girard and Chad Pietronino had two goals each for Madison (11-8-4). Pietronino's second came from center ice and ended Riders goalie Ben Blacker's night 8:43 into the second period.

Blacker has been tremendous but seemed to have an off night, with Madison's first goal coming from a bad angle and on his short side. Ryan Larkin replaced him after Pietronino - at his team bench and ready for a line change - literally threw a puck from the center line that somehow got through him.

'We didn't have a good night,” Carlson said. 'I thought they played well, and we weren't sharp enough, obviously. Credit them. They've got a good hockey team.”

It should be stressed that this loss wasn't only about goaltending. The RoughRiders just seemed out of synch in every facet.

'We've got to get better from tonight and get ready to go tomorrow,” Carlson said. 'It's a learning process. It's one game. We've got another one tomorrow.”

'I'm glad we're playing Madison tomorrow, for sure,” Foley said. 'I don't want this lingering. I don't want to finish like this.”

FIRST STAR - Freddy Girard (Madison): Combines with his brother, Charlie, for a tough forward line. Had two goals.

SECOND STAR - Chad Pietronino (Madison): Pair of goals, upping his season total to three.

THIRD STAR - Erik Foley (RoughRiders): Both C.R. tallies. Has 12 goals this season.

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