Cedar Rapids RoughRiders need to win on the road this weekend to ensure another home game

CEDAR RAPIDS - Break it down into simple terms, and it has become this for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Just make certain you get to play another home game.

Winning twice this weekend at Bloomington ensures the Riders' advancement into the Eastern Conference finals of the United States Hockey League playoffs. Win once, and they'll get a deciding first-round Game 5 Tuesday night at The Stable.

Lose twice, and ... well, don't go there.

'We're just focused on getting wins here,” said RoughRiders forward Justin Cole. 'Maybe it's two there, maybe it's 1-1. It's all about winning the series.”

This series is tied at a game apiece after a pair of lopsided games last weekend in Cedar Rapids. The RoughRiders were dominant in a 7-3 Game 1 victory, Bloomington the same in a 7-2 Game 2 win.

It was startling how things could go so differently in less than 24 hours. Or perhaps not.

'It's a series,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. 'It's 1-1. Enjoy it, let's go play Game 3. We probably think we were better in one game, they think they were better in one game. We're certainly not going to over-analyze anything. We've said all along we're playing a really good team that has won a lot of hockey games this year.”

Cedar Rapids won the Anderson Cup for most regular-season standings points in the USHL, but Bloomington finished strong as well, seven points behind the Riders with a 36-18-5 overall record.

How good is the Eastern Conference? Bloomington's 78 standings points were fourth but would have won the Western Conference by five.

Game 3 is Friday night at 7:35 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. Game 4 is Sunday afternoon at 3.

'They were ready to go and took it to us in Game 2,” Cole said. 'It's all even now. It's a three-game series.”

'Been a pretty energetic feeling in the locker room this week,” said RoughRiders defenseman Jack Ahcan. 'Coach even said we've been buzzing. So I think it's going to be fine. We've just got to worry about the game on Friday.”

And worry about trying to stop Bloomington's power play. The Thunder had the USHL's most efficient PP in the regular season and have gone 5 for 7 in the first two games of this series.

Quite a head-scratching situation considering Cedar Rapids led the league in penalty killing. Carlson said it has been a case of Bloomington having good players and his team being out of position defensively from time to time.

'They do have a really good power play, very effective,” said Riders goaltender Ben Blacker. 'We've worked a lot this week on trying to shut it down, eliminating their scoring chances. Basically their power play is get the puck to the net, send three guys there and try to get a greasy goal. So we're going to try and eliminate that as much as possible. Keep that puck away, and make sure we're covering the right people in the right spots.”

Blacker, one of the best netminders in the USHL this season, was removed after two periods in Game 2. Bloomington's Hayden Lavigne, who also had a terrific regular season, got taken out in the middle of Game 1.

Blacker missed the final week of the regular season with a concussion suffered in a game three weeks ago against Dubuque. He said he feels good, though it took him part of Game 1 to get back into the rhythm of playing again.

'We're just focused on Friday, winning that first one,” he said. 'We had a fantastic first and second period in the first game. In the third period, I felt like we just took it really easy and weren't doing the things we worked on in practice. We just weren't executing, and I think that sort of traveled over into the second game. Especially in the playoffs, after your first game, everything gets harder. It doesn't get easier. We kind of took that for granted. We got slapped in the face with reality. We've been working really hard this week, we've had a great mindset, so I think we'll come out firing.”

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