RoughRiders fall to Youngstown at The Stable, 4-3

By Al Gruwell, Correspondent

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The tipping point in hockey is usually how well a team performs with or without a man advantage. The Youngstown Phantoms scored three even-strength goals in a furious five minutes to down the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, 4-3, Saturday night at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Cedar Rapids (16-14-8) had two power-play chances after digging themselves into a hole, including a five-on-three after a short-handed goal, but got only two shots on goal for their efforts in those two opportunities.

"(Youngstown) was very opportunistic," Rider Coach Mark Carlson said. "You have to score on the five-on-three especially, and that is a player-coach responsibility."

Both teams took advantage of power-play opportunities in the first period. Austin Cangelosi got the Phantoms on the board first, finalizing a tic-tac-toe from Mike Ambrosia and Sam Anas for his 19th goal of the season.

Dennis Kravchenko used a nifty toe drag to elude the defender and bury the puck past Youngstown goalie Matt O'Connor to tie the game at the 15:55 mark.

Youngstown's Alex Gacek got the five-minute fury started by putting in a shot past Rider goalie Jake Hildebrand that crossed the goal line right before the net came off its moorings. A minute and a half later, Sam Anas tapped in his own rebound while sprawled on the ice to gave the Phantoms a two-goal advantage. Gacek scored his second goal of the night, and the Riders appeared buried.

Riley Bourbonnais was called for hooking a minute after Gacek's goal, and all signs pointed to Youngstown burying the dagger. Thomas Forgione teamed with Landon Smith on a neutral-zone trap after the Youngstown defensemen jumped into the play, and the two streaked into the zone, with Forgione taking Smith's feed to bring Cedar Rapids within two goals.

Usually, a "shortie" fires a team up, and with a two-man advantage late in the second period, the Riders managed only one shot on goal.

Ian Brady scored with 3 seconds left in the third period after Hildebrand was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:20 remaining.

The RoughRiders will host Dubuque Friday, Feb. 10th. It will be Armed Forces night, with Cedar Rapids wearing special military-themed jerseys that will be auctioned after the game. Faceoff is at 7:15 p.m.

Normal

false

false

false

EN-US

X-NONE

X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */

table.MsoNormalTable

{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";

mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;

mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;

mso-style-noshow:yes;

mso-style-priority:99;

mso-style-parent:"";

mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;

mso-para-margin:0in;

mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;

mso-pagination:widow-orphan;

font-size:10.0pt;

font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}

at 7:15 p.m.