RoughRiders less than sharp in 3-1 loss to Green Bay

CEDAR RAPIDS - Both doors to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders locker room were locked for a few minutes postgame Friday night. No one was getting in, no one was getting out.

In a move that doesn't happen too often around here, Coach Mark Carlson had a closed-door meeting with his club after a 3-1 loss to Green Bay at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

He insisted there was no fire, no brimstone involved. This isn't a life-and-death, our-season-is-on-the-line situation.

'We're just trying to help our players,” Carlson said. 'No screaming, no yelling. We just had a discussion, and that's it.”

No denying this was a generally poor performance for the RoughRiders (7-5-1, 15 standings points). They seemed listless, lethargic, less than crisp, however you want to describe it.

They had a power play early in the third period that was short-circuited by a too-many-men-on-the ice penalty. Hugh McGing received the puck near his team bench, with a teammate standing right next to him.

Six guys, as obvious a call as you could get. Kind of summed things up perfectly.

'I didn't think that we played well,” Carlson said. 'Our third period was better. I think, for some reason, we are overthinking things a little bit too much. We're not playing the way we need to play in order to win.”

Green Bay (7-5-1, 15) scored three times in the second period to break a scoreless tie. Ryan Blankemeier got the first one at the six-minute mark, with Jason Dhooghe and former Rider Joey Marooney following late in the period.

Dhooghe's goal came on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush.

'It's no secret we didn't play well for two periods,” Carlson said.

Defenseman Riese Zmolek scored his second goal of the season 7:49 into the third, going deep into Green Bay's zone and getting off a backhander in front that squeezed between the pads of winning netminder Kevin Reich. But that was it for C.R.

Green Bay won the shots on goal battle by a 31-25 edge. The RoughRiders were outshot in the first period, 14-6, despite having three power plays.

Again, that kind of night. The good thing is it should be easy to flush this one, as the Riders play Saturday night at Madison.

There has been a lot of roster upheaval the past three weeks or so with this team. Only four skaters are around who played here last season.

That's a lot of USHL inexperience. Carlson was asked if that might be showing.

'It could be a litle bit,” he said. 'But we're not going to sit here and overreact to anything. We'll just get excited for tomorrow.”

The RoughRiders will add forward John Deroche to the active roster. He has been playing for the Boston Jr. Bruins and is expected to arrive in town sometime Saturday.

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