RoughRiders beat Fargo in home opener, 5-2 (VIDEO)

CEDAR RAPIDS The father of a Cedar Rapids RoughRiders player leaned over at the end of this one and stated what seems to be the obvious.

"It's going to be a good year," he said.

Very possibly a really good year. The RoughRiders opened the home portion of their 2010-11 USHL schedule last night with a 5-2 win over the Fargo Force before 2,624 fans at a loud Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Michael Parks had a pair of goals and Jayson Megna, Cason Hohmann and Stu Wilson one each. Cedar Rapids is 2-0 in the very early going, has oodles of experience with 15 returning players and even more skating speed.

This club can really get up and down the ice. Yep, its going to be a good year.

"We're making some good progress," RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said. "We're getting better. I thought there was a lot of good tonight."

Such as Parks play. The North Dakota commit and Philadelphia Flyers draft pick scored a beautiful backhanded breakaway goal midway through the first period, and his persistent poking at a loose puck next to a sprawled Fargo goaltender Ryan Massa in the second led to another goal.

He appears well on his way to surpassing his 2009-10 goal total of 11 and discrediting the scouting reports of him being more of a checking type player in the future as opposed to a scorer.

"In my own opinion, I don't think you can make a determination on anybody right now," Carlson said. "Shame on people that do. Parksie can score, he's always scored. He's more of a versatile type guy who can do just about anything."

Wilson got the Riders going at the 6:31 mark of the first period by deflecting in a centering feed off left wing from Ryan McGrath. Parks countered a Fargo goal at 8:08 just a minute later.

Hohmann made it 3-1 by scoring from a seemingly impossible angle at the red goal line on the power play at 16:43. Fargo scored just 11 seconds later, but that was it, as goalie Brady Hjelle shut them out the rest of the way.