Sioux City vaults past RoughRiders for 1st place in USHL

CEDAR RAPIDS - Back to second place.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders remain atop the Eastern Conference, but the overall lead in the United States Hockey League belongs to Sioux City, and rather emphatically.

The Musketeers closed with four unanswered goals and beat the Riders, 4-1, Saturday night in the battle for league supremacy. A sellout crowd of over 4,300 fans had little to cheer about after Erik Foley's goal 5:34 into the game.

Sioux City played better, made the most of the few offensive chances it had, won with number two goaltender Cam Gornet. The RoughRiders didn't test Gornet nearly enough, seemingly hitting him square in the chest and stomach on too many shots.

'We got a quick goal there toward the start, then I thought we let our guard down. We can't let that happen,” said Riders forward Cal Burke, who assisted on Foley's goal. 'I guess that's my basic assessment.”

The RoughRiders (30-15-0, 60 points) were coming off an uplifting 4-3 shootout win Friday night at Des Moines, while Sioux City was plastered at Waterloo. That didn't matter here.

Foley put Cedar Rapids on top by skating between the top of the circles and rifling a wrist shot over Gornet's glove. Sioux City (29-12-4, 62 points) tied it late in the first period on a good individual effort by Adam Johnson. The USHL's top goal scorer (with 26) dug out a puck behind the RoughRiders net and walked out to the right side, roofing a shot past Cedar Rapids goalie Ryan Larkin.

Sioux City took a 2-1 lead with a late second-period goal on the power play. Sebastian Repo skated into the C.R. zone and threw a pass to Sam Kurker, whose one-timed shot from the high slot got past Larkin low on the glove side.

Kurker is a St. Louis Blues NHL draft pick. Max Kalter's goal off a Larkin rebound put it out of reach at the 10:37 mark of the third. Robert Carpenter scored into an empty net in the closing minute.

'I thought it was a good hockey game,” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. 'They just capitalized on a couple of chances. They scored a power-play goal, we only had one power play. I thought it was a good game. There wasn't a lot of room out there.”

'We're just not paying attention to the little things,” Burke said. 'I think everyone is trying to work hard, but occasionally I think we're taking some moments off and letting some guys get loose. We're not positioning ourselves correctly. We just have to get back to doing all those little things.”

Cedar Rapids completes a rugged three-in-three weekend with a game Sunday afternoon at Dubuque. The Riders then play two games next weekend at Muskegon before returning home March 5.

On a positive note, third-year defenseman Clark Kuster returned to the RoughRiders lineup for the first time since January 31 and skated regular shifts. Kuster has been out with a concussion and shoulder separation.

Center Andrew Oglevie, a co-captain with Kuster, missed his second game in a row with a concussion sustained in a loss last Saturday night against Waterloo.

'We have it. We just have to instill in everyone's brains that you've got to bear down,” Burke said. 'It's tough, this part of the season. We're tired, it's been a long (season), so we've kind of gotten away from it. With the end of the (regular) season in sight, I think it's going to give everyone a new energy. We'll be able to bear down and get back to the level we've had most of this season.”l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com