USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

RoughRiders Weekly

Published on February 16, 2009 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Cedar Rapids RoughRiders News Release


This Week

Tuesday, February 17, 7:05PM Cedar Rapids Ice Arena Tri-City Storm vs. Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

Friday, February 20, 7:05PM Cedar Rapids Ice Arena Sioux Falls Stampede vs. Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

Saturday, February 14, 7:05PM Edge Ice Arena, Bensenville, Illinois

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders vs. Chicago Steel

Last Week

Tuesday, February 10

Cedar Rapids 4 Green Bay 3 (SO)

Friday, February 13

Indiana 3 Cedar Rapids 1

Saturday, February 14

Cedar Rapids 4 Waterloo 3

At a Glance

Cedar Rapids Tri-City Sioux Falls Chicago

28-9-4, 60 points 7-34-1, 15 points 18-21-3, 39 points 22-19-2, 46 points

1st place East Division 6th place West Division 4th place West Division 5th place East Division

Coach/GM: Mark Carlson Coach: Tom Rudrud Coach/GM: Kevin Hartzell Coach/GM: Steve Poapst

Headlines Still Number One: The RoughRiders' win over Waterloo Saturday night combined with the Indiana Ice's loss the same evening to Des Moines enabled the Riders to regain sole possession of first place overall in the United States Hockey League just 24 hours after the Ice defeated the Riders to move into a tie with Cedar Rapids for the top spot.

Iced: Last Friday's loss to the Ice ended the Riders' streak of twelve straight games (9-0-3) without a regulation loss. The set back was Cedar Rapids' first in regulation since a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Chicago Steel on January 9.

Fine in ‘09: The RoughRiders have suffered just two regulation losses in 2009. They have gone 12-2-3 in January and February.

Down But Not Out: The Riders have trailed in each of their last six games but have gone 4-1-1 during that stretch. They trailed by two goals in each of their last four games but have won three of those four contests.

Workin' Overtime: The Riders last Tuesday night against the Green Bay Gamblers broke a club record by playing a fourth straight overtime game. The Riders won three of those four contests- claiming the first two victories in overtime before downing the Gamblers in the shootout. The Riders had only once before gone to sudden death in three straight games- between November 18 and November 23, 2006. Mighty Mike: Forward Mike Seidel (20-32-52) scored his twentieth goal of the season- and picked up an assist- last Saturday at Waterloo. Seidel, who is the first Rider to reach 20 goals this year, ranks third in the league in points, is tied for third in assists and is tied for fifth in goals.

Rockin' Robin: Forward Robin Bergman (16-17-33) has scored nine goals in his last ten games.

Finally: Forward Zach Lehrke (5-7-12) scored a goal and picked up an assist last Saturday in Waterloo to end a 24-game goal scoring drought and halt a 13-game pointless streak. The goal was Lehrke's first since he scored against the Green Bay Gamblers on November 14.

Between the Pipes: Last Friday's loss to Indiana ended Rider goaltender Mike Johnson's five-game winning streak. Troy Grosenick, the other half of the Riders' netminding tandem, is unbeaten in regulation (7-0-3) in his last 11 games. On the season, Grosenick (10-2-3, 2.10, .918) ranks second in the league in goals against average and save percentage. Johnson (18-7-1, 2.34, .910) is tied for the league lead in shutouts (2), is tied for second in wins, ranks fourth in goals against average and ranks sixth in save percentage

Ins and Outs: Forward Tobias Nilsson-Roos (concussion) has missed the Riders' last nine games. Forward Greg Burke (shoulder) will miss the remainder of the season. Burke will begin his college career at New Hampshire in the fall.

Alumni Spotlight: Ohio State sophomore forward Hunter Bishop (2004-2005) scored the only Buckeye goal in a 2-1 shootout loss last Friday at Michigan State. On the season Bishop (12-11-23) is OSU's second leading goal scorer.

Tenth Anniversary Tidbit: With Wisconsin natives Johnson and Grosenick currently handling the Riders' goaltending duties, this is the first season since 2001-02 that the Riders have not counted on a Minnesota-born goaltender. Over six seasons prior to this year the Riders' netminding baton was passed from Bemidji's Joe Fallon (2002-2004) to South St. Paul's Al Stalock (2004-2006) to Plymouth's Kent Patterson (2006-2008) to International Falls' Brady Hjelle (2007-2008).

Scouting Report Tri-City: The Storm played just once last week, falling to Chicago in a shootout 5-4 last Friday night...Tri-City has gone 0-2-1 since snapping a 19 game losing streak by defeating the Riders 1-0 in overtime on February 6... The Storm is currently on pace to win a total of just 10 games... Tri-City is both the only team in the league to have scored fewer than 100 goals (98) and the only club to have given up more than 200 (217)... Tri-City also ranks last both on the power play (11.5 percent) and the penalty kill (77.6 percent)...The Storm's win over the Riders earlier this month is Tri-City's only victory against an East Division opponent this season. The Storm has gone 1-16-1 against the east...Tri-City has lost 14 straight road games...Anthony DeCenzo (12-16-28) is the Storm's top point producer. DeCenzo is one point away from matching the total (29) Mike Cichy posted for the Storm before being traded to Indiana last month...T.J. Massie has played four straight games in goal, the first time a Tri-City goaltender has done so this season...The Riders have collected five of a possible six points in three meetings with the Storm this season.

Sioux Falls: The Stampede won back-to-back home game last weekend. Sioux Falls edged Fargo in a shootout last Friday and outlasted Green Bay 6-5 the following evening...The Stampede had gone 0-4-1 in five games heading into last weekend...Sioux Falls is four points ahead of Sioux City in the race for the fourth and final West Division playoff spot...The Stampede is winless in its last five road games (0-4-1) and has gone 5-13-1 away from home on the season...David Eddy (16-28-44) is tied for seventh in the league in points and is tied for eighth in assists...Terry Broadhurst (20-19-39) is tied for fifth in the league in goals... Eric Hartzell (15-16-2, 3.14, .904), the son of Sioux Falls coach Kevin Hartzell, has been in goal for 34 of the Stampede's 42 games and ranks third in the league in minutes played (1968:06)...The Riders Friday night will try to compete a four-game season series sweep of the Stampede.

Chicago: The Steel has won four straight games- three of them in the shootout...The Steel hit the road to win a pair of shootouts last weekend, downing Tri-City 5-4 on Friday and overcoming Lincoln 4-3 Saturday...Despite its recent hot streak Chicago is still seven points behind Waterloo in the race for the fourth and final East Division playoff spot... The Steel is currently three games over .500, matching its high water mark for the season...Andrew Miller (25-40-65) is the only player in the league to have reached 25 goals, 40 assists or 60 points this season...Dean Chelios (14-23-37) has produced better than a point per game since being traded by the Riders to the Steel in November. Chelios has scored 14 goals and totaled 36 points in 33 games with Chicago...Josh Balch (12-12-24), who was acquired by the Steel from Des Moines earlier this month, recorded his first points in a Chicago uniform over weekend, scoring two goals and adding an assist in the Steel's two wins...Among USHL defensemen, John Moore (12-19-31) trails only the Riders' Matt Donovan (14-19-33) in goals and points...The Riders have gone 3-2-0 against the Steel so far this season.

Community Horizon Meals on Wheels: Each Wednesday RoughRiders players help the Horizons Meals on Wheels program deliver meals to area seniors.

Promotions Ticket Redemption Night: Tomorrow night's game is a Season Ticket Redemption Night- season ticket holders can exchange unused tickets to previous games for seats of equal or lesser value at tomorrow night's game. Ticket redemption is valid for up to the number of seats on a season ticket account. For example, a season ticket holder with four season tickets may redeem up to four tickets tomorrow night.

Star Wars Night: The force, with fans attending Friday night's game between the Riders and Sioux Falls Stampede, will be. The Riders' annual Star Wars Night, is it. Your chance to meet all of your favorite Star Wars characters, this is.

Watch/Listen That's The Ticket!: RoughRiders single game tickets can be purchased in person at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena ticket office, over the phone at (319) 261-4625 or online at www.roughridershockey.com. The ticket office is open from noon to 5:00PM on weekdays and from noon through the end of the second period on game days. Ticket prices range from $7 to $17 in advance and from $8 to $18 on game days.

On the Air: All RoughRiders regular season and playoff games are broadcast on AM-1360 The Fan in Cedar Rapids. Brian Lavelle provides play-by-play.

Catch the Coach: Catch up on all the latest Rider news with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders' Coach's Show with Mark Carlson Wednesday nights at 6:00 on AM-1360 The Fan. The half hour show is broadcast live from Union Station on 16th Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids. RoughRiders Coach and General Manager Mark Carlson and RoughRiders radio broadcaster Brian Lavelle are joined by Riders players on each edition of the Coach's Show.

Online: Courtesy of B2 Networks, free audio webcasts of Riders games are available at www.roughridershockey.com. The RoughRiders and B2 also offer pay-per-view video webcasts of all RoughRiders games. Fans can click on the "Watch RoughRiders' Games Live" icon at www.roughridershockey.com to catch the action. The broadcast is available to fans with a high speed DSL or cable modem internet connection. The charge for video webcasts is $6 per game.

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United States Hockey League Stories from February 16, 2009


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