Late misfortune dooms Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in Game 5 loss to Bloomington

CEDAR RAPIDS — The thing about hockey is that you can compete your butt off, play well by most standards and have all that undone by one untimely bounce.

It was having that puck luck go against them that ended the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders' season Tuesday night. Defenseman Brogan Rafferty threw a shot that was going wide but bounced off the leg of a Riders defenseman and into the net with 5:19 left for the go-ahead goal that ultimately gave Bloomington a 5-2 victory in the deciding fifth game of this United States Hockey League playoff series.

'A 2-2 game with (six minutes) left, any shot is a good shot,' Rafferty said. 'I got a good pass from (a teammate), kind of pulled the middle and shot it. It went off one of their guys and went into the net. That's the kind of bounce we needed in that game to get by a good Cedar Rapids team, and that's what we got.'

Two empty netters in the final 1:13 provided the final margin and the final nail in the coffin. A very disappointing conclusion for a club that won the Anderson Cup for most regular-season standings points.

The RoughRiders last won a playoff series in 2011, the only time they've won a series in the past nine seasons. Go back to that puck luck thing.

'You can make that comment, I guess,' said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. 'Credit them. They played well and found a way to win. Yeah, on that 3-on-2 there, it was bouncing around and went off one of our guys. But you've got to credit them. They played tremendous. They deserved it.'

A Game 3 win this past weekend at Bloomington gave the Riders a 2-1 series edge, and they needed only an overtime goal in Game 4 to advance. But Bloomington got it instead for a 1-0 victory.

So close for Cedar Rapids, but so far away.

A goal from Zac Robbins with 7:53 remaining brought Cedar Rapids into a 2-2 tie, countering a go-ahead Bloomington goal two minutes earlier. This was a case of having some puck luck, as a shot from the point by defenseman Ben Foley glanced off Robbins' body in front before richocheting into the net.

Two RoughRiders players fell down in the Bloomington zone, which created a 3-on-2 odd-man rush that Rafferty finished off.

'You're talking about two even teams,' Carlson said. 'They are a very, very, very good hockey team and play well defensively. Scoring chances on either side weren't easy to generate. They just did a nice job.'

Bloomington had the edge in play early and took advantage of it. Logan Lambdin sped down right wing on a 2-on-2 and threw a great cross-ice pass to teammate Jake Slaker, who had beaten his check.

Slaker's one-timer pinged off the left goal post, but Lamdin was there to slam in the rebound. Time of the goal was 3:56.

With the Thunder taking away most of C.R.'s speed game by consistently getting guys back defensively, the RoughRiders knew they would have to get goals of the greasy variety. That's what they did in the opening minute of the second period.

Defenseman Jack Ahcan threw a shot from the right point through traffic at Bloomington goaltender Hayden Lavigne. The puck hit Lavigne's pads but somehow squeaked past him, with Will Garin right there to poke the puck into the open net for a 1-1 tie 53 seconds in.

That ended the Riders' scoring drought with the goalie in net at 119 minutes, 45 seconds. Ross Colton had an empty netter in the closing seconds of Game 3.

As usual, the scene in the losing team's locker room was difficult to observe, as every single player was slumped silently in his dressing stall with full uniform still on.

Tears were shed. Impossible to see the positive in such a negative situation.

'When you reflect on the true story of this group, and I think it's really important to do that, just going through it and looking at season-ending injuries on one team,' Carlson said. 'Bryce Hatten was pretty much out the whole season for us. Ryan Larkin, Matt Gosiewski, Liam Walsh, Karch Bachman, there are five season-ending injuries on one team. We had to make some adjustments early on (with) some guys who wanted to be elsewhere, which is perfectly fine. But, still, you are bringing in new guys.

"The reason I'm bringing all that up is this group here did an absolutely unbelievable job of working all year long and finding ways to win 40 games. It was a tremendous, tremendous group.'

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