• Box Score: Omaha 7, Cedar Rapids 0
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Two goals in the first 46 seconds, Thatcher Demko's first career United States Hockey League shutout and 12 players scoring at least one point were three big things the Omaha Lancers were celebrating Friday after their 7-0 victory over Cedar Rapids.
The 26-13-3 Lancers never gave the RoughRiders a chance to get started because they kicked off the game at Civic Auditorium with a 1-2 punch that would have had the UFC fans that descended on Civic Wednesday night roaring with approval.
Michael Ferrantino sent a left wing shot at RoughRiders goaltender Jake Hildebrand, and the puck bounced of the top of his glove and trickled over the goal line just 32 seconds into the game.
Before the celebration of that goal had subsided, Max Vallis scored his 12th goal of the season 14 seconds later to put the Lancers ahead 2-0. At the next break — just 59 seconds into the game — Cedar Rapids coach Mark Carlson pulled Hildebrand and brought Matt McNeely in to tend the RoughRiders net for the final 59:01.
But there were two other aspects of the win before the crowd of 3,277 that were even more pleasing to Lancers coach Mike Aikens about Omaha's most decisive win of the season.
“I was happy with the way we kept our foot on the gas,” Aikens said. “You get two quick ones like that and the guys start thinking ‘this is going to be easy.' The next thing you know, you're behind, so I was really pleased with the way we battled all night.”
Aikens also was pleased with how few quality chances the RoughRiders had against Omaha's defense. Cedar Rapids finished with 22 shots on goal but had only nine through the first two periods.
“If we can do that every night we're going to be pretty tough,” Aikens said. “Our focus in practice all week was to take care of the puck and take away the opponents quality chances.”
Two more goals in the second period left little doubt that the Lancers were going to keep their four-point lead atop the USHL's Western Conference. On a 5-on-3 power play, Vallis sent a cross-ice pass to Anthony Hamburg, who scored his sixth goal of the season at 7:17.
Hamburg scored again at 16:43 when he won a race for a loose puck and chipped it past McNeely before sliding into the boards. The Lancers added three more in the third period, the first of which was a blast from the right point by defenseman Ben Ostlie for his first career USHL goal.
Tanner Lane scored just over four minutes later after a tight pass from former RoughRider Nolan Zajac before Kenny Gillespie closed the scoring at 12:21 by winning a battle for a loose puck at the top of the Cedar Rapids goal crease.
“We have some talented, gifted offensive players,” Aikens said. “When we get them to play within a structure and everybody plays sound defense, you create opportunities for yourself.”
Though they played with a lead almost the entire game, the Lancers still had plenty of motivation to help Demko secure his first USHL shutout. Aikens said everyone knew what was at stake without anyone having to say a word.
“You don't ever want to bring something like that up on the bench,” Aikens said. “But I knew they wanted to keep playing well for Thatcher.”
The Lancers will host Indiana Saturday at 7:05 p.m. The Ice fell to 25-11-5 Friday night after dropping a 4-3 decision at Des Moines.
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402-618-4113, alexsdad@mail.com
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