Pat Cannone and Jacob Cepis scored two goals apiece as the RoughRiders routed the host Green Bay Gamblers 8-4 Friday night.
The Riders scored seven straight goals over the second and third periods to break the game wide open.
Cedar Rapids was trailing 2-1 when Cannone started the onslaught at 8:08 of the second period. The Riders were on the power play when the first year forward blasted the puck in off of Green Bay goaltender Adam Avramenko’s glove from the right wing circle. That goal was Cannone’s second. He batted a rebound home out of midair for the Riders’ only first period goal.
Just one minute and thirty-five seconds after Cannone tied the score at two, Jacob Cepis charged into the goalmouth to give the Riders a 3-2 lead.
Later on the same shift Cepis would tip in a Scott Wietecha shot for his second goal in 36 seconds and the Riders’ third in one minute and fifty-five seconds. After that goal, the Gamblers replace Avramenko with Nick Graves.
Graves was soon given a rude introduction to the contest. At 11:36 it was the Gamblers who were on the power play when the Riders’ Casey Wellman scored on a breakaway to extend the lead to 5-2 with the fourth Cedar Rapids goal in three minutes and twenty-eight seconds.
Scott Wietecha scored the Riders’ fifth goal of the second period- and Cedar Rapids’ second on the power- at 18:44 of the middle frame with a drive from the top of the right wing circle.
The Rider roll continued when Tommy Wingels scored Cedar Rapids’ second shorthanded goal at 1:20 of the third period. The margin stretched to 7-2 when Wingels fired the puck home from the left wing circle to cap off a 2-on-1 rush.
The Riders were again on the power play when Robin Bergman snapped a loose puck past Graves from the slot for the eighth Cedar Rapids goal at 4:38 of the third.
Gambler third period goals from Sergio Somma and Justin Cseter did little but make the final score a slightly more respectable 8-4.
Such a lopsided Rider victory seemed unlikely after goals from Michael Borisenok in the first period and Mike Sislo just 53 seconds into the second enabled the Gamblers to take a 2-1 lead.