By Dale Miller
dale.miller@theindependent.com

Tri-City gave up three first-period goals on Saturday en route to a 5-1 loss to Cedar Rapids.

The Storm (16-21-2) now trails fourth-place Sioux Falls in the USHL's West Division by 10 points with 21 games left. The top four teams in each division advance to the Clark Cup Playoffs.

"We're concerned about winning our next hockey game," Tri-City coach Bliss Littler said. "We can't be concerned about what Sioux Falls is doing. But at some point you do the math."

Tri-City finding itself trailing after the first period is nothing new. The Storm has led at the first intermission only six times this season and has been behind 18 times.

But the deficits are getting worse. In the past four games, Tri-City has been outscored 9-1 in the first period and has now given up 23 more goals than it has scored in the first 20 minutes of games.

"It's just real humbling, real frustrating," Littler said. "I looked up at the scoreboardand they had four goals on nine shots.

"In our goaltender's defense, the first goal both nights (against Cedar Rapids) was a backdoor tap-in on a power-play. You've got to give your goalie a chance. You've got to help him get to 90 percent (saves). Our lack of discipline did us in. They played like a top four team, we played like a bottom four team."

A potential much-needed spark for the Storm was quickly extinguished when a possible goal 58 seconds into the game was waved off due to a dislodged net.

The RoughRiders (25-13-1) controlled the rest of the game. Cedar Rapids played tic-tac-toe with quick passes to lead to a backdoor power-play goal by Bryce Aneloski at 3:10.

Ian Slater went 5-hole on Storm goalie Nick Hopper from the right circle at 13:46, just one second too late to be credited with a shorthanded goal.

Robin Bergman made it 3-0 at 17:19 when he found himself in perfect position to deposit a rebound into the net for his first goal of the year.

Hopper was replaced by Aaron Rock after the first intermission having stopped only five of eight shots.

Troy Power broke up the shutout bid of RoughRiders' goaltender Brady Hjelle at 8:05 of the third. He scored a power-play goal off a centering pass from Daniel Heath.

Power scored for the second straight game against Cedar Rapids after going goalless over his first 36 games with Tri-City.

And injuries are starting to be added to insults. The bad breaks began when forward Jordan VanGilder broke his ankle in practice on Wednesday.

"We had two more kids separate shoulders," Littler said. "It's frustrating. I feel for these kids. At this age, you judge your self worth by what kind of hockey player you are. It's humbling to look at four teams ahead of us (in the standings)."

Storm Watch

The schedule won't be Tri-City's friend in its playoff push. Only three of the remaining 21 games are against the three other teams with losing records. This week is especially brutal with a home-and-home Tuesday-and-Friday series against West Division leading Omaha and a Saturday home game against East Division leader Indiana. Captain Mario Lamoureux played one night after having four teeth knocked out. Defenseman Cameron Cooper missed his first game of the year for precautionary measures after taking a hard hit Friday. Littler said if it had been a playoff game, Cooper would have played.

Cedar Rapids 3 1 1 5

Tri-City 0 0 1 1

First period-1, Cedar Rapids, Aneloski 6 (Seidel), 3:10 (pp); 2, Cedar Rapids, Slater 8 (Donovan), 13:46; 3, Cedar Rapids, Bergman 1 (Oddo, Jones), 17:19. Penalties-Power, Tri-City (hooking), 2:17; Slater, Cedar Rapids, major (fighting), 3:16; P. Lamoureux, Tri-City, major (fighting), 3:16; Boehm, Cedar Rapids, double minor (unsportsmanlike conduct-delay of game), 3:32; Peltoma, Tri-City, double minor (tripping-delay of game), 3:32; Hopper, Tri-City (roughing), 3:32; Willert, Tri-City (delay of game), 9:02; Oddo, Cedar Rapids (delay of game), 9:02; Bergman, Cedar Rapids (high sticking), 11:45; M. Lamoureux, Tri-City (charging), 19:47.

Second period-4, Cedar Rapids, Boehm 11 (Donovan), 6:35. Penalties-Thocker, Tri-City (holding), 8:14; Oddo, Cedar Rapids (elbowing), 14:59; Power, Tri-City (hooking), 19:18.

Third period-5, Tri-City, Power 2 (Heath), 8:05 (pp); 6, Cedar Rapids, Bergman 2 (Jones), 12:44. Penalties-M. Lamoureux, Tri-City (checking from behind), 4:15; Slater, Cedar Rapids (roughing), 7:38; Cichy, Tri-City (checking from behind), 8:30; Seidel, Cedar Rapids (roughing), 10:55; Ginand, Tri-City (slashing), 10:55; Oddo, Cedar Rapids (delay of game), 11:28; Cichy, Tri-City (delay of game), 11:28; Oddo, Cedar Rapids, double minor (high sticking), 16:20.

Shots-on-goal-Cedar Rapids 8-6-9--23, Tri-City 9-11-10--30.

Power-play opportunities-Cedar Rapids 1 for 7, Tri-City 1 for 54.

Goaltenders-Cedar Rapids, Hjelle 19-9-1 (30 shots-29 saves). Tri-City, Hopper 7-5-0 (8-5); Rock (15-13).

Attendance-3,222.

Referee-Eugene Binda. Linesmen-John Grandt, Jon Shaw.