The RoughRiders enter the Clark Cup playoffs having come up just short in their bid for a second Anderson Cup United States Hockey League regular season title in three years and a third straight East Division crown. The Waterloo Black Hawks defeated the Riders 3-2 in Saturday night’s regular season finale to nip Cedar Rapids for both the Anderson Cup and the division title.
Last Saturday’s loss ended Cedar Rapids’ three game winning streak. The Riders opened the weekend with a 3-0 shutout of the Ice last Friday at Indianapolis. The Riders went 10-3-2 in their final 15 games.
Richard Bachman made 31 saves to blank the Ice last Friday. By the time Ryan Cramer scored the first Waterloo goal of last Saturday’s contest 39 seconds into the third period, Bachman had gone 108:28 without allowing a goal dating back to the third period of 4-1 win over Indiana on April 7.
The Riders finished the regular season with 37 wins and 79 points, more than in any other season in team history with the exception of the 2004-05 campaign. The Riders won 42 games and collected 89 points on the way to the Anderson and Clark Cups that season.
The Riders broke a team record by scoring 239 goals this season. The Riders ranked second in the league offensively, averaging a hair under four goals per game.
Jacob Cepis (34-38-72) finished as the league’s leading goal scorer and ranked third in points. Cepis is the third player in team history to top 70 points in a season and likewise the third Rider to reach 100 career points (46-55-101).
Last Saturday’s loss halted the Riders’ team record setting eight game home winning streak. The defeat was the Riders’ first at home since a 4-2 loss to Des Moines on February 16. The Riders set another club record by winning a total of 21 home games this season.
With last Saturday’s win the Black Hawks also took home the i wireless Corridor Cup, the trophy awarded to the winner of the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo regular season series. The Hawks went 5-3-0 against the Riders this year. The Riders had won the Corridor Cup each of the prior two years.
The Junior Blue Jackets split their final two games of the regular season. The Blue Jackets defeated the Chicago Steel 4-3 last Friday at home before falling 7-2 last Saturday at Indiana.
Ohio went 3-2-0 over its final five regular season games. All three of those wins came against Chicago.
After winning just four of their first 39 games, the Blue Jackets posted a respectable 9-12-0 record over their final 21 games to climb past Steel and out of the league basement.
The Jackets won their last two home games, marking the first time all season Ohio notched back-to-back home victories. The Blue Jackets went 6-4-1 in their last 11 home contests after going just 3-14-2 in their first 19 games in Columbus.
The Blue Jackets’ home postseason games will be played at the Dispatch Ice Haus, the secondary ice surface adjacent to Nationwide Arena. Ice has been removed from Nationwide Arena proper with the end of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ National Hockey League season.
The Junior Blue Jackets regular season goal total (119) was less than half that of the Riders. The Blue Jackets were the only team in the league to average fewer than two goals per game (1.98).
The Blue Jackets are also- along with Chicago- one of just two clubs that allowed four or more goals per contest (4.03). Ohio surrendered 242 goals in all.
The Ohio attack was not much livelier on the power play. The Blue Jackets ranked last in the league on the man advantage (9.2 percent).
Tim Hall (17-14-31) led the Blue Jackets in goals and points.
Goaltender Corson Cramer, who joined the Blue Jackets in February, got a rare rest in the regular season finale after starting 14 of Ohio’s prior 15 games. Cramer has been in goal for the Blue Jackets’ last six wins and has posted a 2.72 goals against average and a .918 save percentage since arriving from the North American Hockey League.
PLAYOFF FORMAT
Under the revamped 2007 USHL playoff format, all 12 teams qualify for the postseason. In the first round the first place team in each division will face the sixth place team in that division, the second place teams will meet the fifth place teams and the third place teams will meet the fourth place teams. All first round series are best-of-seven.
The second round will consist of two divisional round robins. The three East Division teams that advance from the first round will play one another once and the three opening round survivors from the west will also meet one another once.
The top two teams in each round robin will advance to single game single elimination semi-finals. The semi-final winners will then meet in a single game final. The semi-finals and final will be played at the home of the top seeded semi-finalist.
LAST WEEK
Cedar Rapids
Friday, April 13: Cedar Rapids 3 Indiana 0
Richard Bachman made 31 saves to blank the Ice. Casey Wellman, Robin Bergman and Doug Jones scored the Cedar Rapids goals.
Saturday, April 14: Cedar Rapids 4 Indiana 1
The Riders surrendered the game winner with just 2:41 left in regulation as the Black Hawks battled from behind with three third period goals. The Riders twice took the lead- on goals from Ian Slater and Pat Cannone.
Ohio
Friday, April 13: Ohio 4 Chicago 3
Derek Roehl’s hat trick propelled the Blue Jackets. Roehl scored the first two goals of the game and then provided what proved to be the game winner in the third period.
Saturday, April 14: Indiana 7 Ohio 2
Ohio gave up five unanswered goals after tying the game at two in the first period with goals 35 seconds apart from Justin Cseter and Patrick Goebel.
LEADERS
Cedar Rapids
Goals- Jacob Cepis (34)
Assists- Jacob Cepis (38)
Points- Jacob Cepis (72)
Plus/Minus- Jacob Cepis (+18)
Penalty Minutes- Kevin Wehrs (132)
Power Play Goals- Robin Bergman (17)
Shorthanded Goals- Aaron Bogosian (4)
Ohio
Goals- Tim Hall (17)
Assists- Chris Reed (21)
Points- Tim Hall (31)
Plus/Minus- Justin Cseter (+1)
Penalty Minutes- Clark MacLean (97)
Power Play Goals- Tim Hall (5)
Shorthanded Goals- Dan Hobbs, Eric Rex, Derek Roehl (1)
WHO’S HOT
Cedar Rapids
Pat Cannone: nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last seven games…15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his last 13 games
Mike Seidel: eight points (four goals, four assists) in his last seven games…20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in his last 16 games
Ian Slater: 17 points (seven goals, ten assists) in his last 14 games
Richard Bachman: allowed just four goals in his final three regular season games
Ohio
Corson Cramer: before sitting out last Saturday, started seven straight games and 14 of 15…in goal for Ohio’s last six wins
COACHES
Cedar Rapids
Mark Carlson, 8th year (255-177-42)
Mark Carlson has been the RoughRiders’ coach since the team arrived in Cedar Rapids in 1999. In 2005-06 he led the Riders to their second straight East Division title.
He has now piloted the Riders to seven straight winning seasons and seven straight Clark Cup playoff berths. The Riders are one of just two USHL teams to have reached the postseason each of the last seven years.
Entering this postseason, the Riders are the only team to have advanced at least as far as the Clark Cup semi-finals/East Division finals each of the last two springs and four of the last five years. On December 3, 2005 Carlson picked up his two hundredth career coaching win as the Riders defeated Omaha 2-1 in a shootout.
The high point of his tenure was leading the RoughRiders to the first Clark Cup (playoff) title in team history along with a share of the Anderson Cup regular season title and the East Division title in 2004-05. The Riders went 42-13-5 during the regular season- the best record in club history- and swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs before defeating Sioux City three games to two in the finals. For his efforts, Carlson was named the 2004-05 USHL Coach of the Year.
Carlson piloted the Riders to the East Division title again in 2005-06.
Carlson, a native of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell where he earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing. Also while at Lowell, Carlson skated in the highly competitive Hockey East conference as a forward on the River Hawks’ hockey team. His on-ice talent was recognized even before he arrived in Lowell when he was taken in the 1987 National Hockey League draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After graduating from UML, Carlson spent one season as an assistant coach at Lawrenceville School before returning to Lowell to serve as an assistant to head coach Bruce Crowder. After helping the River Hawks to a berth in the 1996 NCAA tournament, Carlson spent another three seasons beside Crowder as an assistant at Northeastern University in Boston, where he also acted as recruiting coordinator. He earned a master’s degree in education from N.U.
During his time at N.U. Carlson also acted as recruiting coordinator. Among those he recruited for the Huskies were Jim Fahey, who now skates for the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks, and Mike Ryan, who would later be the top draft pick of the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
Ohio
Jack Fritsche, 1st year (13-40-7)
Jack Fritsche became the first head coach of the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets in June after spending one season as coach of the Cleveland Barons of the junior A North American Hockey League. He led the Barons to a 35-19-4 record and an NAHL North Division playoff title last year.
Prior to taking over behind the Barons’ bench, Fritsche was associate head coach of Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss Nationalliga. He also served as coach of the Ambri-Piotta junior team.
Fritsche enjoyed a lengthy playing career, spending much of it in Switzerland, where he skated for Zug, Lugano and Ambri-Piotta. He also played for the Moncton Hawks- then the American Hockey League affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets- in 1993-94. Fritsche represented the United States at the 1990 World Hockey Championships.
Fritsche is the uncle of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Dan Fritsche and Ohio State forward (and Colorado Avalanche draft pick) Tom Fritsche.
HISTORY
Jacob Cepis (34-38-72) broke the RoughRiders’ single season goal scoring record when he scored his thirty-second of the April 3 in Chicago. Cepis snapped the old mark of 31 goals set last season by Chad Costello.
Cepis (46-55-101) is the third RoughRider to reach one hundred career points and ranks second in the team career goal scoring rankings. He is just the third player in club history to top 70 points in a season.
Cepis trails only Ted Purcell (138) and Jon Grabarek (129) in the team career point scoring rankings. He lags behind only Grabarek (54) in career goals as a RoughRider.
Cepis joined Costello and Purcell in the Riders’ 70 point club. Costello (76) and Purcell (71) both topped 70 points last season.
Casey Wellman scored the third Cedar Rapids goal in the Riders’ April 6 win at Green Bay- the team record breaking two hundred thirtieth of the season for the Riders. With Wellman’s late game winner the Riders broke the old club record of 229 goals set in 2004-05. The Riders finished with 239 goals this season.
By picking up their twenty-first home win of the year April 7 against Indiana, the Riders set a team record for most home victories in one season. Cedar Rapids won 20 games in a 32-game home schedule in 2000-01 and 19 games in a 30-game home schedule in 2001-02.
The Riders’ team record setting eight game home winning streak ended with last Saturday’s loss to Waterloo. The old record club had stood for better than six years since the Riders put together a six game home winning streak from January 26 through February 12, 2001.
Cedar Rapids’ March 20 win at Chicago was the two hundred fiftieth regular season victory in RoughRider history and likewise, the two hundred fiftieth of Rider boss Mark Carlson’s USHL coaching career.
The Riders have totaled 37 wins and 79 points, more than in any other season in team history with the exception of the 2004-05 campaign. The Riders won 42 games and collected 89 points on the way to the Anderson and Clark Cups that season.
The Riders have topped 70 points for a fourth straight season and for the fifth time in the last six years.
This is the Riders’ fourth straight 30-win campaign and also the sixth time in the last seven years that the Riders have picked up at least 30 victories.
Robin Bergman set a new team record for most power play goals in one season (17). Bergman surpassed the old mark of 14 set by Phil Axtell last year.
Pat Cannone scored the Riders’ team record-setting twelfth shorthanded goal of the season in March 17 win over Ohio. The Riders finished with 14 shorthanded goals. The old record of 11 shorthanded goals was originally set in 1999-2000.
Aaron Bogosian has scored four shorthanded goals to break the team record originally set by Brandon Svendsen. Svendsen scored three times while shorthanded in 2004-05.
The Riders finished the regular season with a better record at home than on the road, the first time they have done so since 2003-04. The Riders’ road record was superior to their home record both last season and in 2004-05.
The Riders are, along with the Omaha Lancers, one of just two teams who have reached the playoffs each of the last seven years.
Entering this postseason, the Riders are the only USHL team to advance at least as far as the division finals each of the last two years. Furthermore, Cedar Rapids is also the only team to reach the league’s final four in four of the last five years. Only one team (Sioux City) has even reached the second round three times in the last five years.
The expansion Blue Jackets will play their first ever Clark Cup playoff game tomorrow night.
COLLEGE COMMITMENTS
Cedar Rapids (13)
Richard Bachman (Colorado College), Robin Bergman (Notre Dame), David Boehm (Massachusetts), Aaron Bogosian (St. Lawrence), Rob Bordson (Minnesota-Duluth), Jacob Cepis (Bowling Green), Brett Dickinson (Quinnipiac), Danny Dries (New Hampshire), Evan Stephens (Dartmouth), Matt Tomassoni (Miami of Ohio), Kevin Wehrs (Minnesota), Scott Wietecha (Ferris State), Tommy Wingels (Miami of Ohio)
Ohio (5)
Charles Brockett (Yale), Danny Hobbs (Massachusetts), Danny Markowitz (Dartmouth), Chris Reed (Ohio State), Dennis Urban (Robert Morris)
ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS
Dave Moss is skating for Calgary in the Flames’ first round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings. Moss is the first Rider alum to ever play in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
ROUGHRIDERS ROSTER
Forward Danny Dries will be available to return to the lineup tomorrow night. Dries was suspended for eight games after receiving a game misconduct for fighting with less than five minutes remaining and a match penalty in the Riders’ March 25 win at Ohio. .
TICKETS
Tickets for RoughRiders first round Clark Cup playoff games are now on sale at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena ticket office. Playoff tickets are available for purchase over the phone at (319) 261-4625, in person at the ice arena and on line 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. Playoff ticket prices range from $8 to $18.
ON THE AIR/ON LINE
RoughRiders regular season and playoff games are broadcast on AM-1360 The Fan in Cedar Rapids. Courtesy of B2 Networks, free audio webcasts of Riders games will also be available at www.roughridershockey.com. Brian Lavelle provides play-by-play.
The RoughRiders and B2 have also teamed up to 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 watch and listen to the game. 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.
Real time updates of all USHL games are available on line at www.pointstreak.com/prostats.