Amlong scores, Riders win in SO, 3-2 (video of shootout)

CEDAR RAPIDS - Lessons in the United States Hockey League aren't all learned on the ice. For Greg Amlong, a tough one was learned on the scale.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders defenseman sat out a few games recently as punishment for having his weight get a little higher than desired. Riders players are weighed at the beginning of every week, and you are expected to be in a certain range.

Amlong wasn't, and suffered the consequences.

“It's definitely helped me,” he said after the RoughRiders beat Indiana in a shootout, 3-2, before 3,070 fans last night at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. “I bike every day now, I work lift, I eat right. I'm on an eating schedule. I'm losing weight, my body fat is going down. Now I'm playing every chance I get, and I feel like I'm doing well.”

Very well last night, as he scored his first USHL goal late in the second period. The 19-year-old from St. Louis pinched in from the left point at just the proper time, took a perfect cross-ice pass from teammate Justin Kovacs and sniped one into the top right corner of the net.

It looked like it'd be the game winner for Cedar Rapids until Daniil Tarasov's power-play goal tied it with 2:36 remaining in regulation. Goalie Brady Hjelle sparkled in the shootout, stopping all four Ice attempts to help his team win, 2-0.

Jayson Megna also scored for the Riders (30-10-5, 65 points). Justin Kovacs and Sam Warning had goals in the shootout.

Amlong provides good size, no pun intended, on the blue line for the Riders at a listed 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. He has stepped up his play of late, which has been very much needed considering the season-ending broken kneecap Anthony DeAngelo suffered last month and the unspecified injury that has kept Nolan Zajac out the past six games.

Newly acquired Michael Holland was knocked out of the game in the second period after taking a hard hit in the corner in the Indiana zone and his status for Saturday night's game at Omaha is in question. That would mean Cedar Rapids could go with only five defensemen.

“Ammer is a great character guy, he loves hockey, and those two things are real important for us,” Riders Coach Mark Carlson said. “Like lots of guys, he needed to do a little bit of work with his conditioning . This is a young professional's league. We weigh in every Monday, and his weight had gotten up a little bit. That's nothing that didn't happen to me when I played. I had to watch everything that I ate, had to watch everything that I did all the time to be able to be in playing shape.

“He's learned a little bit of a lesson. He's got his weight down real good, is looking real good. Obviously the results are on the ice.”

Cedar Rapids extended its advantage over Indiana to five points for second place in the USHL's Eastern Conference. The top two teams in each conference receive first-round byes in the playoffs.

Here's a link to the game boxscore and video of the shootout:

http://ushl.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=1341647