USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

RoughRiders Weekly

Published on March 3, 2009 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Cedar Rapids RoughRiders News Release


Headlines

Bouncing Back: The RoughRiders ended a three-game winless streak (0-2-1)- their longest winless streak of the season- with a 2-1 win over the Indiana Ice last Saturday night in Indianapolis.

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Tussle at the Top: The Riders enter tomorrow night's game in Green Bay trailing the Gamblers by one point in the race for first place overall and for the top spot in the East Division. The Gamblers have a game in hand on the Riders.

Muzzled: The Riders have scored two goals or fewer in each of their last four games- and have scored a total of just six during that stretch. The Riders are also quite stingy themselves. Cedar Rapids leads the league in goals against (2.3 per game) and has allowed three goals or fewer in each of their last seven games.

Down But Not Out: The Riders have trailed in 10 of their last 11 games but have gone 5-3-2 in those 10 games.

Narrow Margin: The RoughRiders played two more one goal games last weekend- eight of their last 11 games and 14 of their last 18 have been decided by a single goal.

Mighty Mike: Mike Seidel (21-34-55) scored last Friday night and is now within two goals of the team career goal scoring record of 54 held by Jon Grabarek and is within six assists of the club career assist record of 99 set by Ted Purcell. Seidel, who has now totaled 145 points over his three year Cedar Rapids career, last month set a new Rider career points record. This season Seidel ranks fourth in the league in assists and fifth in points.

O from D: Matt Donovan (16-22-38) scored last Saturday night and is now within one point of the the team record for points by a defenseman set by Shane Lovdahl, who totaled 39 in 2004-05. Donovan leads all USHL defensemen in goals and points.

Corridor Cup Clincher?: The Riders can clinch the i wireless Corridor Cup- the trophy awarded to the winner of the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo regular season series- with a regulation win over the Hawks this Saturday. The Riders have earned six points in the first five meetings between the two teams while the Black Hawks have collected five. The rivals will meet one more time- on April 4, the final night of the regular season- after Saturday. Should the Riders claim the hardware this season, they would have taken home the cup back-to-back years, four times in the last five seasons and six times in their ten-year history.

Ins and Outs: Forward Zach Lehrke suffered a concussion last Friday night and sat out last Saturday evening's game. 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: Ted Purcell last week was recalled by the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings from the American Hockey League's Manchester Monarchs and Sunday picked up an assist- the first point Purcell has recorded during this NHL stint- in a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. In total Purcell has played 21 games with the Kings this season and scored one goal and collected eight points.

Tenth Anniversary Tidbit: Tomorrow night's game is far from the first late season match-up between Cedar Rapids and Green Bay teams battling for the East Division title. Perhaps most memorably, the Riders and Gamblers met on April 6, 2002- the final night of the 2001-02 season- with the division championship in the balance. Before a sellout crowd of 4,241 the Riders twice hit the post but fell 1-0 to come up just short in their bid for the first division title in club history.

Scouting Report

Green Bay: The Gamblers drubbed Waterloo 11-0 last Saturday in Green Bay. The win was the Gamblers' third in a row and extended Green Bay's unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1). The Gamblers opened last weekend with a 3-1 win over Lincoln Friday...Green Bay boasts the league's best home record (17-3-2) and has gone 10-0-2 in its last 12 home games...The Gamblers average a league-high 4.1 goals per game and last Saturday posted the second highest single game goal total in the league this season. Green Bay has scored at least five goals in five of its last six games...The Gamblers' Michael Forney (24-27-51) is tied for second in the league in goals and is tied for sixth in points...Reed Seckel (8-33-41) ranks fifth in assists...While Steve Summerhays (13-2-1, 2.01, .925) made 30 saves to shut out Green Bay last Saturday and now leads the league in goals against average and save percentage, Reid Ellingson (18-8-3, 2.73, .903) has seen the bulk of the action in goal for the Gamblers this season...The RoughRiders have gone 3-2-0 against Green Bay this season.

Des Moines: The Buccaneers suffered three losses in three nights last weekend and have now gone 0-5-1 in their last six games and won just once in their last ten games (1-8-1). The Bucs lost to Waterloo 5-1 last Thursday, earned one point for a 3-2 shootout loss last Friday at Sioux City and fell 6-4 last Saturday at Tri-City...Alex Chiasson (14-27-41) is the Bucs' top point producer, while Rocco Carzo (19-21-31) leads the team in goals...Des Moines ranks second to last in the league in goals against (4.7 per game) and tenth out of twelve teams in goals scored (3.0 per game)...The Bucs also rank last in penalty killing (76.3 percent)...16-year old goaltender Michael Houser (3-12-0, 3.96, .905) has made at least 40 saves in each of his last five starts...The Riders have gone 5-0-0 against Des Moines this season.

Waterloo: The Black Hawks dropped back-to-back games after defeating the Bucs last Thursday in Des Moines. The Hawks fell 6-3 to Indiana last Friday before being swamped one night later in Green Bay...Waterloo is now three points ahead of Chicago in the race for the fourth and final East Division playoff spot. The Hawks have a game in hand on the Steel...The Black Hawks are 2-5-0 in their last seven games and have gone 9-10-2 in their last 21 games after starting the season 18-7-1...The Hawks rank second both in goal scoring (4.0 per game) and in power play efficiency (21.2 percent)...While the Black Hawks have gone 19-4-1 at home this season they have posted a road record of 8-13-2 and have gone just 1-5-1 in their last seven away games...Craig Smith (22-36-58) ranks second in the league in points and assists and is tied for sixth in goals...Jordan Samuels-Thomas (23-19-42) is tied for fourth in goals...First year goaltender Parker Milner (11-6-1, 3.27, .885) has played five straight games in goal for the Hawks, though second year netminder Joe Howe (16-11-1, 2.49, .881) has seen more action on the season.

Community

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

Tenth Anniversary Jerseys/ALS Association Auction: The RoughRiders will wear special edition tenth anniversary jerseys during their home games on March 7, 13 and 14 and then auction the jerseys off to benefit the ALS Association Iowa Chapter following the March 14 game against the Sioux City Musketeers.

Promotions

Veridian Credit Union Water Bottle Giveaway: The first 1,000 fans through the doors to this Saturday night's game between the Riders and Black Hawks will receive a free Veridian Credit Union water bottle.

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. Because of the Riders' game tomorrow night in Green Bay, there will be no Coach's Show this week. The Coach's Show returns next Wednesday, March 11.

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.

Check out the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from March 3, 2009


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