Mark Carlson of Cedar Rapids RoughRiders breaks USHL record

CEDAR RAPIDS - One records is his. He’ll own another one soon enough.

Mark Carlson set the United States Hockey League mark for most regular-season games coached when his Cedar Rapids RoughRiders hosted and beat Waterloo, 3-0, this past Saturday night at ImOn Ice Arena.

Carly passed former Black Hawks Coach P.K. O’Handley for the record, which was 1,476. He has been behind the bench for 1,478 regular-season games, counting Sunday afternoon’s 4-3 loss at Dubuque.

Carlson was honored pregame in a ceremony that included RoughRiders owner Tony Sdao and USHL President/Commissioner Glenn Hefferan. He received a standing ovation from the crowd of 2,800.

"Mark is a core piece of the USHL fabric and we are proud to celebrate his worthy achievement," Hefferan said. "He has steered the RoughRiders to 18 winning seasons, demonstrating an unwavering passion and commitment to our league, players and the community of Cedar Rapids."

The only head coach the RoughRiders ever have had is close to another, bigger record. He has 769 career regular-season victories, which is nine behind O’Handley all time in the league.

Cedar Rapids has 18 regular-season games remaining. The RoughRiders have a 20-21-1-2 record for 43 standings points, sixth in the USHL’s Eastern Conference and solidly in possession of the final available playoff spot in the division.

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The Riders got goals from Chance Burlison (on a penalty shot), Martin Masa and Dylan Hunt and a 23-save shutout from goaltender A.J. Reyelts in Saturday’s game. Reyelts backstopped Friday night’s 3-2 win over Dubuque, with C.R. getting goals from Masa, Amine Hajibi and Jason Musa.

The RoughRiders rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie Sunday afternoon’s game on early third-period tallies from defenseman Maxon Vig and Guerin Slezak. But Dubuque got a power-play goal with 3:54 left for the win.

C.R. had a late power play of its own in the final two minutes, pulling the goalie for a 6-on-4 man advantage but could not tie it. Reyelts was honored as USHL Goaltender of the Week and Masa USHL Defenseman of the Week by the league Monday.

The Riders host Des Moines this Friday night and travels to Waterloo the following night.

Iowa Heartlanders

The ECHL club just keeps stacking victories.

The Heartlanders picked up two of them over the weekend over first-place Toledo. Iowa won Friday night’s game at Xtream Arena, 4-2. Ryan Miotto had the go-ahead goal with 5:11 left in regulation, with T.J. Walsh adding an empty netter in the final minute.

The Heartlanders won the following night, 5-4, in a shootout. Iowa trailed by a pair of goals midway through the third, but Kelti Jeri-Leon and Chris Lipe scored 48 seconds apart to tie things.

Timmy Kent was successful in the shootout for Iowa, with goalie William Rousseau stopping all three Toledo attempts.

The Heartlanders lost a mid-week game at home to Cincinnati, 4-1. They have a 27-16-4-3 record for 61 standings points, 10 in back of Toledo in the Central Division.

Fort Wayne is third with 60, Bloomington and Indy tied for fourth with 46. The top four teams in the division qualify for the Kelly Cup postseason playoffs.

The Heartlanders host Bloomington at 7 p.m. Wednesday, then hits the road for games Friday night at Cincinnati and Sunday at Toledo. By the way, assistant captain and fan favorite winger Nico Blachman signed a PTO (Professional Tryout Contract) last week with the Iowa Wild, marking the first time in his lengthy and vagabond career he is playing in the higher-level American Hockey League.

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