RoughRiders smack Waterloo, 6-1 [w/video]

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's hard to figure where to begin because this 6-1 Cedar Rapids RoughRiders' beatdown of rival Waterloo had it all.

How about that Michael Parks? He's been a healthy scratch some recently but had two big goals last night.

Maybe it's Bryce Aneloski. He notched two assists to tie the franchise single-season points record for a defenseman and break the career mark.

You could talk about goaltender Cody Campbell. He was terrific again, with the exception of literally giving the opponent its only goal by turning over the puck to a Black Hawks player and getting caught out of his net.

Physicality and chippiness might be your bag. In that case, you want to point out the 22 penalties in the final two periods, including a fight between two of the smallest guys in the USHL: 5-foot-7, 150-pound Cason Hohmann of the Riders and 5-7, 147-pound Jamie Hill of Waterloo.

That charged up an already charged-up crowd of 4,324. The overall atmosphere at The Stable was electric from pregame, since they showed the end of Northern Iowa's upset of Kansas on the big screens, and just kept building.

“It was unbelievable,” said Parks. “It was better than I expected. To be as loud at it was here ... I think that's the most amount of people I've ever played in front of before, especially here.”

“It's been great (lately),” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. “I think people are really excited about all the improvements that have been made at the arena. I'm a hockey coach, and I love the hockey, obviously. But it's about more than hockey. There are so many things going on on the video screens. All the entertainment. It's a great night out.”

Especially when the home team plays like this. Cedar Rapids (35-17-3, 73 points) wrapped up the Corridor Cup, which goes to the winner of the season series, with a complete game that included two power play goals (from Eric Robinson and Tommy Fallen) and a short-hander (from David Boehm).

The Riders closed strong, too, scoring three times in the third period, on goals from Jordan DiGiando, Parks and Fallen. Parks also scored in the first period.

“It feels good,” the North Dakota commitment said. “But it feels even better to get the two points and play well.”

“He had a good game,” Carlson said. “It's kind of the story of our team this year. All of our guys have played a significant amount of games. Every single one of the 23. And that's going to continue the rest of the season.”

Here's fan reaction to UNI finishing off Kansas. They took the game off the big screens with about 40 seconds left and put on a KGAN commercial. That didn't go over very well, so the game came back on.

Also, there's fight video (Cason Hohmann of the Riders and Jamie Hill of Waterloo).