Adam Flammang continues his very good Cedar Rapids RoughRiders season

CEDAR RAPIDS — You’ve accomplished something when you’ve scored 20 goals in a United States Hockey League season.

Any coach, player or scout will tell you it’s just not that easy to bag a bunch of them. Teams play too good of defense in general, they’re very well coached, the season becomes such a long grind for younger kids, many of whom are adjusting to the junior level.

So Adam Flammang has accomplished something this season for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. He had two goals Friday night in his team’s 4-1 win over the Waterloo Black Hawks at ImOn Ice, including the second of two empty netters in the final two minutes that sealed this deal.

The 20-year-old Minnesotan leads the Riders with 24 goals in 53 games.

“I always talk that 20 goals in this league is like 50 goals in the NHL,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. “I’ve kind of looked at it that way. It’s a really, really hard league to score in.”

To further the legitimacy of his theory, Carlson used the example of former RoughRiders forward Marc McLaughlin. He played two seasons before moving on to Boston College for four years, played in the Olympics this winter for the United States national team and recently signed an NHL contract with this hometown Boston Bruins.

McLaughlin scored a goal in his first NHL game Thursday night.

“He had four goals in his first season here,” Carlson said.

Flammang only played in six games last season for the Sioux Falls Stampede because of injury. Originally RoughRiders property, he came to Cedar Rapids, was made captain and appears to be more than ready to make an immediate impact for Bemidji State, where he has signed.

“It obviously means a lot, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without the coaching staff putting me in the right places,” Flammang said. “I have to give it 100-percent up to my teammates because without those guys — they’re working their bags off out there for me and they’re finding me in places where I can get chances to put the puck in the net. Without my team and my coaches, I would be nowhere.”

When asked to compare Flammang to a previous RoughRiders player, Carlson brought up Jeff Costello, who played in Cedar Rapids from 2008 to 2010. A tough player with an ability to score, Costello played at Notre Dame and then briefly professionally.

Defenseman Brendan Fitzgerald scored on the power play in the first period to give Cedar Rapids a 1-0 lead. Flammang pounded home a rebound for a goal in the first seconds of the third period for a 2-0 edge.

After a Waterloo goal with 4:33 left ruined goaltender Bruno Bruveris’ shutout attempt, Cooper Flinton scored an empty net goal with 1:23 left, then Flammang did the same with 22 seconds left.

“I thought we played all right,” Flammang said. “We won. I think we’ve got a little more in us, but this was a great team win.”

The RoughRiders (24-26-2-1) won their third in a row and remain in a tie for sixth place and the final available playoff spot in the USHL’s Eastern Conference with Team USA. They crept within three standings points of fifth-place Madison and have two games in hand on the Capitols.

A problem at Des Moines’ home arena has forced the USHL to switch Saturday night’s game against the RoughRiders back to ImOn Ice. Team USA’s U18 team then comes to town for a Sunday afternoon game.

Nine regular-season games remain for Cedar Rapids.

“Great effort, gutsy effort,” Carlson said. “We played hard.”

You can look at Friday night’s game sheet here.

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