Roughriders bounce back with win at Green Bay

To heck with the disappointment of the previous two days. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders played the perserverance card Sunday afternoon and trumped the Green Bay Gamblers, 3-2, in a big United States Hockey League tilt at the Resch Center in Green Bay.

The victory eases the sting of Friday night's 2-1 loss at Waterloo and Saturday night's 4-3 overtime loss at Dubuque. Cedar Rapids blew a 3-0 third-period lead in the latter game.

Jayson Megna scored midway through the third period for the winning goal, moving the RoughRiders (39-12-6, 84 points) back into first place overall and in the USHL's Eastern Conference over Green Bay (39-15-4, 82 points). Cedar Rapids also has a two-point edge over Western Conference champion Dubuque in the race for the Anderson Cup (most regular-season points).

The RoughRiders have three regular-season games remaining, all at home: Wednesday against Youngstown, Friday against Dubuque and Saturday against Team USA. Green Bay and Dubuque each have two regular-season games remaining.

Cedar Rapids took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period Sunday on goals by Michael Parks and Stu Wilson, only to have them countered almost immediately. Nolan Laporte scored 1:40 after Parks' goal and Austin Czarnik scored 46 seconds after Wilson.

Brady Hjelle increased his USHL single-season record for goaltending victories (38), making 31 saves. Green Bay outshot the Riders by a 33-19 margin.