Game 13: Ice at Cedar Rapids

The Ice head to the road to face two Hawkeye foes this weekend -- the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Friday, then they'll head to Waterloo to meet the Black Hawks on Saturday night.

Both games will drop the puck at 8 p.m.

The Ice and RoughRiders are in a three-way logjam for third place in the USHL's Eastern Conference, each with 16 points (tied with Youngstown). They're all four points back of Green Bay and three points behind Dubuque -- the two defending Clark Cup finalists.

Cedar Rapids -- which seems to be a perennial Ice playoff foe -- has three players with double-digit points in Gerald Mayhew, Nick Saracino and Austin Ortega. Last year, the Riders won the Anderson Cup -- the USHL regular-season title -- largely behind their goaltending. The Riders have two veteran netminders in Jake Hildebrand -- who was acquired from Sioux City -- and Matt McNeeley.

The Ice are coming in on an 0-1-2 streak, having dropped two 5-4 heartbreakers at the Coliseum last weekend. On Friday, the Ice led 4-2 in the third, but saw Green Bay rally to win it in OT. On Saturday, the Ice rallied to tie Muskegon, but then allowed the GWG late in the third. The Ice will be playing without Drew Smolczynski, who will be serving a one-game suspension. He will return for the Waterloo game Saturday night.

Tale of the Tape
Tonight's game (Friday, Nov. 18, 2011)
Indiana Ice (7-3-2, T3rd, USHL East)
at
Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (7-3-2, T3rd, USHL East)
7:05 p.m., Pepsi Coliseum, Indianapolis, IN
Broadcast: ushl.fasthockey.com

Season series: Ice lead 2-0
Nov. 4 (at Pepsi Coliseum): Ice 5-1: Daniil Tarasov 2G/A, Jacob Fallon G/2A; Alex Barron & Emil Romig 2A; Jon Gillies 26sv (Ice); Nick Saracino G (CR).
Oct. 1 (at CR): Ice 4-3, OT. Daniil Tarasov 2G, GWG, Matthew Krug 2A, Jon Gillies 30 sv (Ice); Matt McNeeley 34sv (CR)


Tale of the Tape
Ice (7-3-2, t3rd USHL East)
Head coach: Kyle Wallack
GF: 48 (2nd). GA: 35 (t6th)
PP: 32.6% (1st). PK: 87.9 % (4th) PIM: 251 (13th)
OT/SO record: 1-1 OT, 0-1 SO

Road record: 4-1-1
Leading scorers: Daniil Tarasov (8-11-19), Jacob Fallon (7-8-15), Robbie Baillargeon (6-5-11, 6 points last 4 games), Alex Barron (1-10-11), Sean Kuraly (4-7-11, will not dress).

Leading +/-: Daniil Tarasov (+8), Alex Barron (+8)
Leading PIM: Daniil Tarasov (39), R.J. Boyd (26)
Leading goaltender: Jon Gillies (6-2-2, 2.27 GAA, .919sv%, 1 SHO), Dalton Izyk (1-1-0, 4.46 GAA, .869 sv%)
Last 5: 1-2-2 Last 10: 5-3-2
Last 5
11/13: vs. Muskegon (L 4-5)

11/12: vs. Green Bay (OTL 4-5)
11/5: at Youngstown (SOL 3-4)
11/4: vs. Cedar Rapids (W 5-1)
10/29: vs. Waterloo (L 3-4)

RoughRiders (7-3-2, T3rd, USHL East)
Head coach: Mark Carlson

GF: 43 (t5th). GA: 35 (t6th)
PP: 15.1% (8th). PK: 84.6% (9th) PIM: 171 (3rd)
OT/SO record:0-2 OT, 1-0 SO

Home record: 3-0-1
Leading scorers: Gerald Mayhew (9-3-12), Nick Saracino (3-9-12), Austin Ortega (7-3-10)

Leading +/-: Nick Saracino (+11), Gerald Mayhew (+8)
Leading PIM: Preston Hodge (33)

Leading goaltender: Jake Hildebrand (5-2-1, 2.72 GAA, .912 sv%); Matt McNeely (2-1-1, 3.21 GAA, .893 sv%)

Last 5: 3-2-0 Last 10: 6-3-1

Ice next 5 games
11/19: at Waterloo
11/23: at Green Bay
11/25: vs. Sioux City
11/26: vs. Fargo
12/2: vs. Dubuque