Cedar Rapids RoughRiders beat Team USA, inch closer to USHL’s Anderson Cup

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders moved a couple steps closer to the ..

We can't say it. Don't want to be accused of jinxing it or anything.

And their coach abhors any single mention of it.

'Don't think about it. Never talked about it one time,” Mark Carlson said, after his hockey club topped the United States National Team Development Program's U-17 team, 3-1, Friday night before 3,349 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. 'This is a day-by-day operation. It always has been. That's not how we operate. We have a game tomorrow, and that's it.”

Cedar Rapids has a 37-13-5 record and 79 standings points, the most in the United States Hockey League. They are now clear of second-place Dubuque and Bloomington by seven points overall and in the Eastern Conference.

The RoughRiders have five regular-season games left, including one Saturday night at Dubuque. Win that, and ... ah, don't go there, either.

Let's just say the USHL awards a meaningful trophy to the team that finishes with the most standings points each season. Cedar Rapids has won it twice, the last time in 2010-11.

'Everyone wants to win the Anderson Cup. That's for sure,” said Riders tri-captain Cal Burke, spilling the beans. 'But to do that, you can't look ahead. You can't be focusing ahead, can't be focusing on playing Dubuque tomorrow ... You've got to focus on every point. Two points is two points. So it really is focusing on one game at a time.”

Which is how Cedar Rapids has gotten to this point.

'Right now, we're actually not trying to think about it,” said Riders forward Zac Robbins. 'We're just trying to focus on winning. If we win all our games, we'll be fine.”

Robbins came off the bench on a change, took a home-run feed from defenseman Jack Ahcan and broke a scoreless tie with exactly one minute left in the second period. It was his seventh goal of the season.

Burke hopped on a rebound and finished off a nice left-wing rush by linemate Hugh McGing to make it 2-0 with 8:24 left in the third. Jacob Hayhurst's power-play goal with 1:10 to go ended any remaining suspense.

There actually was one bit of suspense left: whether goaltender Ben Blacker would pick up his sixth shutout of the season. He didn't, as Team USA's Josh Norris beat him on a rebound with 1.7 seconds to go.

Blacker had to settle for his league-leading 32nd victory of the season, the second highest single-season total in club history. He made 31 saves.

'I thought they were a really good team,” Burke said of 'The Program.” 'They're young, so they've obviously improved a lot. Every time we've played them, they've gotten better. It's been a challenge every time, especially tonight.”

On a down note, winger Matt Filipe took a match penalty in the third period for removing an opponent's helmet. He is facing at least a two-game suspension.

'We took so many penalties,” Carlson said. 'I don't know. I couldn't tell you which period was our best. There were a lot of special teams, penalty killing. I liked the way we competed throughout the game. We've been able to find ways to win, no matter the situation.”

Which puts them in position to win, well, you know.

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