Fighting Saints Stun RoughRiders with Late Flurry
April 2, 2016 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Dubuque Fighting Saints News Release
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Coming off of a 10-2 victory over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders a night prior, the Dubuque Fighting Saints played an entertaining encore, with four third-period goals leading the way in a 5-2 win over CR on Saturday night at The Stable.
Dallas Gerads, while at four-on-four late in the third period, took a cross-crease dish from Keegan Ford, who joined the play late, and Gerads waited the extra second to lift a backhander over the outstretched Ben Blacker to put Dubuque on top 3-2. It came after Brett Boeing had been assessed a major penalty, and Matt Filipe a holding minor just moments later to even up manpower.
Cedar Rapids held two different leads in the game, in which Dubuque responded to in kind. Pavel Tkachkov started the scoring for the Riders in the second period, his second goal of the season, while picking off a pass in the middle of the ice and dangling through Hunter Miska to make it 1-0.
Just minutes later, Carson Vance patiently waited at the point for traffic to develop out in front of Blacker, where Mitchell Smith redirected his first goal of the night past Blacker to tie it up at one.
It took until the third period for the goals to begin. Ross Colton, who ended the regular season series with the most goals by any player, capitalized on a bounce out in front of Miska and deposited the puck into the vacant net to put CR up 2-1. But that didn't last long, until Joey Keane's point shot found Willie Knierim to tie it up at two.
Smith and Shane Kavanagh found the empty net in successive fashion to seal the win up for the Fighting Saints, who split the season series with the RoughRiders.
In the win, Miska passed Jacob Nehama's single-season win record, by notching his 30th win of the season, to set the new record. The Minnesota-Duluth commit made 21 saves in the victory.
In the first period, Blacker made some show-stopping saves to keep it scoreless. Dubuque outshot Cedar Rapids 10-6 in the first, and 40-23 for the game. Like the night prior, all seven goals in this game were scored at even strength.
To wrap up the weekend, the Fighting Saints travel to Green Bay to take on the Gamblers for a 3:00 matinée at the Resch Center. Tune in to the flagship station of the Saints, Dubuque's Super Hits 106.1 FM, starting at 2:50 for the pregame show.
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United States Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2016
- Yuri Terao Is Four-Midable - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Steel Win Last-Second Thriller - Chicago Steel
- Fighting Saints Stun RoughRiders with Late Flurry - Dubuque Fighting Saints
- Musketeers Fight to the Finish in 6-4 Loss to Waterloo - Sioux City Musketeers
- Stampede Blank Stars 2-0 to Move into 4th Place Tie - Sioux Falls Stampede
- Devin Cooley Makes 30 Saves in Muskegon 4-1 Win - Muskegon Lumberjacks
- Stampede Blank Stars, 2-0 - Lincoln Stars
- Storm Clinches Regular Season Conference Title, Demolishes Fargo, 4-1 - Tri-City Storm
- Payusov's Early Goal Doesn't Hold up for Caps - Madison Capitols
- Phantoms Sweep Omaha, Run Win Streak to Five - Youngstown Phantoms
- Phantoms Prove Too Much for Omaha in 4-1 Loss - Omaha Lancers
- Capitols out for Payback against Gerard & Jacks - Madison Capitols
- Fighting Saints Set Records, Make History in Dismantling of RoughRiders - Dubuque Fighting Saints
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