Goals aplenty again as RoughRiders bash Madison, 5-1

CEDAR RAPIDS - The goal scoring for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders continues to get progressively worse.

That is tongue planted firmly in cheek, of course. This hockey club continued its early offensive barrage Saturday night in a 5-1 win over Madison at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

The Riders (3-0) scored seven goals in the season opener last weekend and six Friday night in a comfortable victory over Fargo. It was merely five here.

What a disappointment. Back to tongue being planted firmly in cheek again.

'I think really it's just our execution,” said first-year RoughRiders winger Matt Filipe. 'We work on a lot of stuff in practice. Coach prepares us really well. Every zone we're doing stuff. It's not just the offensive zone. You have to make good plays in the defensive zone and the neutral zone to get it to the offensive zone.

'We're generating chances and making the most of them.”

Filipe scored his third goal of the season early in the second period, then missed some time after taking a shoulder or elbow to the jaw. He didn't look any worse for wear postgame, and obviously could speak to a reporter, so that's a good sign.

Madison (0-2) scored four minutes in, but it was all Cedar Rapids after that. Matt Gosiewski, Hugh McGing and Ross Colton had goals 2:06 apart to end Madison goaltender Garrett Metcalf's night after just 8:36. Metcalf is an Anaheim Ducks draft pick.

Luke Morgan had the only goal of the third period. Thus far, nine different players have scored goals for Cedar Rapids and 15 different guys have collected points.

'We were OK at the start, then we got going,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. 'I thought overall, playing back-to-back nights for the first time, it was good. They (Madison) came in here rested. There are tons of things to get better at, but I liked our effort and the way we were trying as hard as we could. I thought it was a good effort overall.”

Again, it's so early, but the things that strike you about this RoughRiders team is its ability to roll four forward lines and three defensive pairings without losing anything. It also appears to be improved in the grittiness and toughness areas.

Carlson specifically mentioned the line of Zac Robbins, Morgan and Tyler Irvine as being 'junk-yard dogs” Saturday night.

'We've had lots of different teams here,” he said. 'Yeah, we wanted to be a little grittier, a little stronger.”

'I definitely think we're a hard-nosed team,” McGing said. 'Last year, maybe not so much.”

Ryan Larkin made 21 saves for the win in net. Cedar Rapids plays Thursday night at Fargo and the following night at Tri-City.

That's a 508-mile journey from here to North Dakota, if you were wondering, then another 537 miles from Fargo to Kearney, Neb. Ah, life in the United States Hockey League.

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