When Major League baseball teams play preseason games, the players generally go through the motions for a few innings and take the rest of the day off.

When United States Hockey League clubs play preseason games, the guys bust their butts for 60 minutes and engage in a little rough-housing to make sure they're ready when the bell rings.

That's the way it was at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena Tuesday night when the RoughRiders clipped the Dubuque Fighting Saints, 5-3, in an entertaining contest that seemed like the real deal.

Andrew Poturalski scored three goals for Cedar Rapids and Carlos Fornaris collected four assists as the RoughRiders defeated their rivals from the other end of Highway 151. Judd Peterson contributed a goal and two assists in the spirited game.

The second period had barely begun when RoughRiders forward Dylan Steman and Dubuque defenseman Ryan Chaisson traded punches and received five-minute penalties for fighting.

"The players, the coaching staff, everybody wants to win," said Steman. "We're willing to do whatever it takes to do it every night. We want to be a tough team to play against every single night, no matter where we are."

Steman and Poturalski denied there was any lingering animosity between the two teams from last season.

"They're right down the road, only an hour away," said Poturalski. "We're big rivals with them. We want to win and they want to win. So, it's chippy. It doesn't matter if it's preseason or regular season, we're both going to battle."

Jason Kalinowski gave Cedar Rapids a quick 1-0 lead when he scored with 17 minutes, 52 seconds left in the opening period. Poturalski made it 2-0 midway through the first period.

Dubuque tied the game, 2-2, in the second stanza, but the RoughRiders got off to another fast start in the third period on goals by Peterson and Poturalski to make it 4-2. The Fighting Saints pulled within 4-3 with 4:56 remaining in the game, but Poturalski scored again with 3:31 left to make it 5-3.

The RoughRiders played three exhibition games in New Jersey this past weekend and were playing their fourth game in five days Tuesday. Coach Mark Carlson liked the effort.

"I thought physically we held up pretty good," he said. "I thought we got better as the game went on. I thought that was a plus, considering we've played so much hockey.

"I think one of the great things about this league, these kids play their tails off every time they put the equipment on. These guys are playing all heart and soul. They're not making a million bucks. They've got dreams of playing big-time college hockey and then to play in the National Hockey League some day.

"These people are paying money to see them play and they're getting every penny's worth, because they're working their tails off."

The RoughRiders open the regular season Sept. 27 at Lincoln. The home opener is Sept. 28 against Sioux Falls.

"We've got to learn to work harder, consistently," said Carlson. "We've got to be smarter without the puck. And we've got to play better defensively. But I thought our conditioning was real good. I thought we made plays at key times, which was real good for us."

ROUGHRIDERS 5, DUBUQUE 3

Dubuque       0  2  1 - 3
RoughRiders   2  0  3 - 5

CR - Jason Kalinowski (Casey Jerry, Carlos Fornaris)
CR - Andrew Poturalski (Judd Peterson)
DUB - Brett Boeing (Andrew Gaus)
DUB - Robbie Darrar (Colby Daniels, Blake Hillman)
CR - Peterson (Fornaris, Ivan Provorov)
CR - Poturalski (Fornaris)
DUB - Andrew Gaus (Matt McArdle)
CR - Poturalski (Fornaris, Peterson)