RoughRiders play well again in 6-2 win over Green Bay (w/video)

CEDAR RAPIDS - They seem to be the hockey version of Jon Bon Jovi. Rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated.

It was definitely no dead group of Cedar Rapids RoughRiders that slapped the United States Hockey League's best club silly Friday night at The Stable, as they scored four unanswered goals in the second and third periods to beat Green Bay, 6-2, before 2,533 fans.

These Riders staggered to the holiday break, winning just two of their last 14 games, in great part because of excessive injuries and travel. But they have returned from a week-plus off as a renewed and re-energized hockey club, posting back-to-back impressive wins over Eastern Conference teams they are trying to catch in the standings.

“I think break really helped,” said Riders defenseman Chris Dienes, who had his first USHL goal to open the scoring in the first period. “I think we came together as a team a lot more when we got back. Obviously we weren't doing as well as we wanted. But I think as a team we have set out to kind of get on a roll here. We're off to a pretty good start with that.”

Six players had goals for Cedar Rapids (11-9-7, 29 points), which plays Saturday at Waterloo. Greg Amlong, Austin Ortega and Davey Middleton scored on the power play.

Middleton's man-up tally with 4:37 left was a unique one. Green Bay Coach Derek Lalonde pulled goaltender Michael Rotolo (briefly a RoughRider last season) despite going on the penalty kill in a last-ditch effort to get his team back in the game.

Cedar Rapids led at the time, 5-2. Green Bay (21-5-1, 43 points) lost for just the fifth time in regulation, allowing a season high in goals.

“We're getting better,” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. “We have people improving, and we've been able to get some guys back in the lineup as well.”

To that point, Dienes played for just the second time since missing two months with a broken wrist, and second-year forward Ryan McGrath made his re-debut after missing two-plus months with the same injury. Center Dennis Kravchenko, who joined the club this week from the lower-level North American Hockey League, played well and provided his new team a spark with a spirited second-period scrap with Green Bay's Sheldon Dries.

Andrew Oglevie and Riley Bourbonnais also scored for Cedar Rapids. Jake Hildebrand made 37 saves in a rock-solid effort in net.

“These guys have battled through an awful lot of things this year,” Carlson said. “I'm just telling you reality here. The schedule this group has had, people can look at that and make what they want of it. The schedule and the injuries ... hey, we're just being realistic here. They've battled, kept themselves in the race. We're kind of in the race here, so we've got to keep getting better every day. Just keep improving.”

Here is a link to the game boxscore:

http://ushl2011.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=1660526&refresh=1