(Submitted by Jerry Stack)
The Cedar Rapids High School Hockey team (16-7-4) travelled to Waterloo Friday evening to take on the undefeated (26-0-0) Warriors at Young Area. The electronic board outside advertised ‘Senior Night’ and ‘Free Admission’ to ‘Pack the House’ for the matchup between their home town Warriors and the Cedar Rapids Mustangs (Mustangs was the name of the Cedar Rapids hockey team prior to the 2009 – 2010 season). Apparently Waterloo still hadn’t gotten the memo (or noticed the webpage logo) that all Cedar Rapids Hockey programs; Youth, High School and USHL teams are now called the Roughriders.
But what was apparent, was that this night was to be a Waterloo celebration. A celebration of the Warriors hockey success, their ongoing perfect season, and recognition night for their Seniors. All of Waterloo was invited, and by 6pm Young Arena had hundreds (an accurate estimate was not available, but this reporter guesses well over 500) of people fired up to acknowledge Warrior superiority. KWWL Channel 7 was on hand to cover the event, and showed game highlights on their 10 O’Clock news.
But a funny thing happened Friday night in Party Town. The Warriors didn’t win.
It wasn’t as if things didn’t start off per plan, though. Early in the first period, with Waterloo pressuring in the Cedar Rapids zone, a phantom tripping penalty gave the Warriors the man advantage at 5:47. Just 57 seconds later, Jacob Sessler shot through a screen, arguably illegally camped in the goal crease, and the Warriors were on the board, 1-0.
Midway through the 2nd period, a Roughrider turnover while on the power play allowed Warrior sharpshooter Tim Brown to launch a laser from the Cedar Rapids blue line which deflected in under the crossbar to double the Waterloo lead to 2 -0. The Party in Party Town was on.
Undaunted, the Roughriders were able to regroup, and just 1:06 later, with the Roughriders on a power play, Brandon Ohrnstein took a pass from Zach Russell and put Cedar Rapids on the board, cutting the Warrior lead to 2-1. A little over one minute later, with Cedar Rapids again on the power play, Quin Kavanaugh got around the Warrior defense and tied the game at 2, Mike Eken getting an assist on the score. And so the 2nd period ended tied at 2, as concern started to show across the faces of the Warrior faithful, and hope in the eyes of Roughrider loyalists.
The 3rd period opened with an early cross-checking penalty to Warrior Jacob Sessler. The revitalized Roughrider power play, took advantage for the 3rd time when Brandon Ohrnstein connected for his second goal of the game, assisted by Russell, and the Cedar Rapids had their first lead, 3-2, with 12:26 remaining.
The previous 8:24 of play had netted the Roughriders 3 goals in what was arguably their finest stretch of play all season. After the game, Cedar Rapids goaltender Jacob Stack, when asked about his thoughts after the Ohrnstein goal put them up 3-2 said, “I was thinking of the movie Miracle when Team USA took a one goal lead against the Russians with 10 minutes remaining…there’s an awful lot of time left on the clock.”
Indeed there was, but the Warriors hurt themselves by taking two additional penalties in the final stretch, at 6:49 for cross-checking, and at 10:35 for tripping. This kept the Warriors from maintaining much sustained pressure, although they certainly had their chances. With 1:33 remaining, and a face-off upcoming in the Roughrider zone, Waterloo called time out and pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Cedar Rapids did a good job in keeping Waterloo shots to the outside and then clearing the rebounds from in front of the net. The final face-off in the Roughrider end occurred with 33 seconds remaining. This time Cedar Rapids called time out in order to give their players a rest and plan for the inevitable Warrior onslaught. But Center Zach Russell won the draw, Cedar Rapids was able to clear their zone, and Ohrnstein showed the presence of mind to cross the red line before firing the puck down the ice. With about 20 seconds left and the clock ticking down, some excellent Roughrider forechecking prevented the Warriors from mounting a serious threat. A shot from center ice was gloved easily by Stack with 2.5 seconds left. Waterloo was given another penalty, this time for slashing. The puck was dropped harmlessly just outside the Waterloo blue line, and the Roughrider celebration, perhaps the biggest in Cedar Rapids High School Hockey history to date, was on.
A week earlier, during Cedar Rapids’ Senior Night at the Stable vs. Mason City, the Seniors were asked, among other things, what their greatest High School Hockey memory had been. Senior Brandon Ohrnstein had responded, “When we beat Waterloo next week”, and his Roughrider teammates and crowd roared. Brandon’s prophesy had come true, and in a most inspiring way.
Postscript: Waterloo defeated the Roughriders on Saturday night 3-1. Quin Kavanaugh scored the lone goal for Cedar Rapids, with an assist from Dalton Heggebo. Goaltender Jacob Stack stopped 35 of 38 shots for the Roughriders. In Junior Varsity play, Waterloo won the Friday night game 2 -0. Cedar Rapids won the Saturday night contest 3-2. Scoring for the Roughriders were Mike Eken, Kyle Bailey and Colton Schultz. Picking up assists were Alex Jordan, Mike Eken and Morgan Burden.
