RoughRiders lose game, goalie Larkin for season

CEDAR RAPIDS - There just seems to be something missing right now for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. And there's going to be someone missing the rest of the way.

A 4-3 loss Friday night to Bloomington at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena was the fourth in a row for Cedar Rapids after a 5-0 start to the United States Hockey League season.

Bloomington scored a pair of early goals, and the Riders couldn't ever quite catch up. Rather disheartening, though head coach Mark Carlson, as always, chose to look at the positives.

'I think there were times in that game we played our best hockey of the season,” he said. 'We had good zone time, we had 40 shots on goal. I thought our penalty kill was good, our power play did well. That's four or five good things right there.”

Perhaps the bigger news Friday was the official confirmation that second-year goaltender Ryan Larkin is out for the rest of the season with a torn labrum in his right hip. He'll have surgery on it at some point here soon and get to rehabbing, in hopes of being ready next season for college hockey at Miami (Ohio).

Larkin had a 3-1 record, 2.13 goals against average and .917 save percentage in four games this season. This team officially belongs to Ben Blacker, another second-year guy who had been sharing the net time pretty evenly.

The RoughRiders have brought in 18-year-old Zach Larocque to replace Larkin. He spent time in fall camp with Sioux Falls of the USHL and has been with the midget-major Rocky Mountain RoughRiders in Colorado.

'Bennie's a real solid goaltender,” said Riders forward Ross Colton, who had two goals. 'I know anytime he's in the net, we've got a chance to win the game. We don't have to worry about that. We've got to sharpen up some other things. It's tough losing Larkin, but we'll go on.”

'It's exciting, but also a little nerveracking,” Blacker said. 'I take it as a positive, will use the positive energy to help me play well. It's just very unfortunate the situation with Shark. I'm hoping he has a great recovery. I know he's got a great career ahead of him.”

Mitchell Chaffee's rebound goal off a 2-on-2 rush just 2:20 in gave Bloomington an immediate lead. Van Barr made it 2-0 four minutes later, poking in a loose puck that Blacker thought he had corralled but actually was stuck at the side of his left pad.

Colton's power-play rebound goal less than a minute later gave the Riders life, but Chaffee scored again a minute after that as the Thunder regained a two-goal edge. A Blake Gober deflection goal early in the second period made it a 4-1 game.

Colton scored a whacky one later in the period, skating to center ice at the end of his shift on the power play and taking a shot that deflected off Bloomington goalie Hayden Lavigne's stick and into the net. Matt Gosiewski's rebound goal with Blacker off for an extra attacker made it a 4-3 game with 22.2 seconds left, but that was it.

The RoughRiders outshot Bloomington, 40-29. They host Des Moines on Saturday night at 7:05.

'I've got to make some more saves out there. There's no excuses for that,” Blacker said. 'I've got to produce for the guys. They're out there doing their jobs, blocking shots and making plays. I've got to sharpen up and come ready to play.”

'I don't know if it's stuff we're not doing,” Colton said. 'We're just not getting bounces here and there. In the D zone, we've got to sharpen up ... I thought at times we played well. Like Coach said, at times we were playing our best hockey. They got a couple of bounces and jumped out to a lead. I think sooner or later, if we keep doing what we're doing, we'll be fine.”

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