Hohmann nets 4 as RoughRiders roll Dubuque

Here's the thing about Cason Hohmann's great night. It could have been even greater, believe it or not.

You're never, ever going to quibble with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders center's output last night in a 7-3 win over Dubuque at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. He tied a franchise record with four goals, for crying out loud.

But consider Hohmann whiffed on a second-period rebound in which he had an open net to shoot. Take into account he was stoned on a semi-breakaway in the third.

An unbelievable night could have been … well, more unbelievable.

“Everyone wishes they could get more,” said Hohmann, as Frank Sinatra - of all things - blared on the stereo speakers in the locker room. “But I think I'm pretty content with what I had.”

Hohmann had a natural hat trick to start this game, as the RoughRiders (5-1) blew out to a 5-0 lead. He scored just 1:11 in, added a four-on-four goal late in the first period and banged home a rebound at the side of the net just after a Riders' power play ended early in the second.

His fourth goal came on the power play late in the period, as he slam dunked a no-look, cross-ice pass from Justin Kovacs. What a game.

“I just think he's a great example of why it's great to play two years in this league,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. “He got some seasoning last year. He worked really hard on the weights this summer and really hard on his conditioning. He's stronger, he's faster. Now he's able to use his skills more.”

Those are considerable skills that will likely get the diminutive Dallas native taken in the 2011 NHL Draft. Playing much of the season as a 16-year-old, Hohmann put up nine goals and 36 points in 58 games in 2009-10.

Considered more of a playmaker than scorer, he already has seven goals and 10 points in six games this season. The only knock on the Boston University commitment is his size (5-foot-8 and 160 pounds), but he's been playing with that supposed disadvantage his entire hockey life and done just fine.

“Hopefully there's a growth spurt there, but I doubt it. I think I'm done growing,” Hohmann said with a smile. “As a little guy, you've got to do the little stuff right. You've kind of got to be a sneaky player, get behind people and use your speed against the bigger guys. Be more quick and agile than the bigger guys. You've just got to use what you have.”

Michael Parks had two goals and Rasmus Juell one for Cedar Rapids, which plays the back half of this home-and-home weekend series tonight in Dubuque. Brady Hjelle has been in goal all six games thus far and made 15 stops for the victory.

Cedar Rapids outshot Dubuque, 37-18

“I thought we did some things well tonight,” said Carlson. “We're improving, but we've got an awful lot to work on.”

Here is a copy of the game boxscore and video of Hohmann's second goal in the second period. By the way, the Riders have named Jayson Megna their captain the rest of the season, with assistants being Parks, Tommy Fallen and Stu Wilson.