Home not so friendly to RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - The black and green paint job looks fabulous and the video boards are awesome. There are few who don't think the overall experience at The Stable isn't much, much improved.

Now if only the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders can work on getting a few more victories. The Riders dropped to 3-5 at home this season after a 3-1 loss Friday night to Sioux City before 1,792 fans.

“I don't think it's a mentality factor with this team,” said Riders winger Eric Robinson, who had his club's only goal. “I think the good thing is we do have a great away record. That says something about the way kids on our team want to compete so much. I don't know. Maybe it's a thing that'll flip-flop as the season goes on.”

As Robinson mentioned, Cedar Rapids (9-6-1, 19 points) has been gold away from The Stable, with a 6-1-1 record. That's been a constant over the years under head coach Mark Carlson.

But you're supposed to make the most hay at home, and the Riders just can't seem to find their pitchfork.

“I'm not real concerned with it,” said Carlson, whose team is still just a point behind first-place Green Bay in a jammed Eastern Division of the United States Hockey League. “I wasn't here for (two) of our home games, and neither were four of our players. The games I have been here for, I think we've played extremely well and outchanced our opponents maybe two to one. So it's not something that's a huge concern right now.”

What was a concern was having just 12 shots on goal through two periods. Sioux City (6-8-1, 13 points) scored three times in the second period against Riders goalie Troy Grosenick, including two goals from Stephan Vigier.

Robinson's one-timer in the slot ended Willie Yanakeff's shutout bid at 2:06, but the Riders couldn't do anything with two late power play, including a 6-on-4 when Grosenick was pulled for an extra skater.

Cedar Rapids plays Thanksgiving night at

Waterloo, then hosts

Indiana and

Omaha the following two nights.