Hohmann OT goal gives Riders 1st win over Chicago

CEDAR RAPIDS - Superman had kryptonite, the Iowa football team has Northwestern. The only opponent in the USHL this season to make the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders flinch has been the Chicago Steel.

It took Cason Hohmann's goal with 1:03 left in overtime last night for the Riders to finally break the Chicago curse, 3-2, before almost 2,500 fans at The Stable. It's the first time in three tries Cedar Rapids has been able to forge the Steel.

In fact, two of the Riders' three regulation losses have come to that pesky bunch from the Windy City.

“I don't know. They're just a good team,” Hohmann said. “Everybody in this league is good, and you've got to come ready to play every night.”

Hohmann stole a puck from Chicago defenseman Michael Holland just inside the Steel blue line late in OT, skated in and beat goaltender Connor Wilson over his glove for the game-winner. It saved the Riders (14-3-1, 29 points), who had a 2-0 lead after a period.

“I had just come off the bench. The guy mishandled it,” said Hohmann, who has eight goals in 13 games. “I just took it from him, got a good shot off and it went in. That's where I was looking to go, high glove.”

Jayson Megna's team-leading 13th goal and defenseman Tommy Fallen's third gave the RoughRiders a seemingly comfortable cushion. But Garrett Allen scored in the second period for Chicago (7-10-4, 18 points) and Wisconsin recruit Tyler Lapic tied it with 2:02 remaining in regulation.

Lapic's rebound tally, after goalie Brady Hjelle made an initial fine stop, came on an odd-man break just after Cedar Rapids had killed off a penalty. Chicago outshot Cedar Rapids in the third, 12-6.

“Just too many turnovers tonight,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. “That has hurt us all year long.”

Hjelle moved his eye-popping record to 13-1-1 with the win in net, making 24 saves. The RoughRiders host Muskegon tonight at 7, with special Iowa Hawkeye jerseys the Riders are wearing this weekend being auctioned off to benefit the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

Here is the game boxscore and video of a second-period fight between Peter Sakaris of the RoughRiders and Tucker Brockett of Chicago.