RoughRiders blast Indiana in Game 1, 6-0

CEDAR RAPIDS - It was a good start and a good start last night for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

The Riders opened the USHL playoffs with an uber-strong three-goal first period that helped them dispose of the Indiana Ice, 6-0, before 1,460 fans at The Stable.

Hard to script a better beginning to this best-of-5, first-round series. Now we'll see how the Riders follow it up in Friday night's Game 2 here.

“We came out hard, moving our feet and were fortunate to jump on them early,” said Jeff Costello. “(Winning the first game) is important, but we've really just got to take them one at a time. If we had lost 6-0 tonight, we'd be approaching the next game exactly the same way.”

Costello got his team off and running by poking a loose puck in the crease into the net just 3:48 into this one. Mac Bennett followed with a second power-play goal at the 12:42 mark, then Jordan DiGiando made it a first-period hat trick just 1:36 later.

Cedar Rapids was outshot in the period, 13-11, but led by three.

“Oh, yeah, that was huge,” said Riders goaltender Troy Grosenick. “It's always nice to play with the lead.”

Grosenick was very good in a 41-save beauty, particularly in the second period, as he made several key stops to help the Riders kill off three Indiana power plays. The question of who would start this series in net was answered when Cody Campbell and teammates Nick Lappin and Stephen Collins were given automatic two-game suspensions for receiving game misconducts in Cedar Rapids' penultimate regular-season game last weekend at Youngstown.

You know who'll get Game 2 now, too.

“He made the big saves when we needed them,” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. “And I thought our guys did a good job overall defensively.”

“We got the win and that's all that really matters,” Grosenick said. “Everyone out there was keeping the shots to the outside, veering them out from in front of me. Everybody else wants a shutout just as much as me. We know the less goals we give up, the higher chances that we're going to win. That's what it really comes down to. We just want to win. The whole team getting a zero is just icing on the cake.”

Cason Hohmann scored in the second period to end Indiana goalie Cab Morris' night early, and Zach Lehrke and Eric Robinson had goals in the third. Lehrke was credited with his as being the closest player to the puck when an Ice player shot a puck from the Riders' zone around the boards the length of the ice and accidentally into an open net.

Indiana head coach/general manager Jeff Blashill was named head coach at Western Michigan University prior to Wednesday's game. He will continue to coach the Ice through the playoffs.

Here's a short video interview with Grosenick in the Riders' locker room after the game: