RoughRiders lose, tied for 2nd

CEDAR RAPIDS - OK, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders fans. You can stop paying attention to the Green Bay Gamblers.

Your focus should be on the Indiana Ice now.

The Riders lost their third straight toughie Saturday night, 5-3, to Dubuque before 3,569 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. That included a full section of delirious Fighting Saints rooters who made the trip down Highway 20 and saw their heroes beat Cedar Rapids for the first time in four games this season.

Green Bay has suddenly put significant distance between itself and the RoughRiders in the USHL's Eastern Conference - a full nine points, to be exact. Streaking Indiana, meanwhile, has caught Cedar Rapids for second place, with 57 points each.

The Riders have a couple of games in hand, but momentum is not on their side at the moment.

“My thoughts are the same as they always are. We don't focus on one team,” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. “I've said it a lot recently, there are a ton of good teams in this league. You look at the standings, and there's about six or seven teams all within a couple of points of each other.

“Sometimes people tend to focus on one team or two, but if they look at the standings, there are six or seven (they should). The teams that are very, very important are the teams that don't have records maybe as good as another team. Those teams 100 percent, 1,000 percent can (still) beat those other teams.”

The RoughRiders (26-10-5) lost last week at Green Bay, 2-1, then Friday night at Sioux Falls on a goal with five seconds left. This one also was difficult to take.

Vinny Saponari's goal with 3:59 left was the winner, coming just 1:10 after Jayson Megna scored for Cedar Rapids to make it 3-3.

Cason Hohmann scored twice for the Riders, but both goals were countered within five minutes, a them in this game.

The teams play again Sunday in Dubuque. Riders defenseman Nolan Zajac sat out his second straight game with an unspecified injury.

“Nothing changes. It's still one game at a time,” Carlson said. “We've had some one-goal losses here, but we have an opportunity to play tomorrow."

Here is a link to the game boxscore and video of Hohmann's second goal.

http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1341614