The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders came out flying in their season opener Saturday night and belted the Dubuque Fighting Saints, 6-2, before 2,314 fans in a USHL game at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Newcomers Jiri Fronk and Adam Gaudette scored two goals apiece and Ben Blacker collected 33 saves in an impressive performance by the entire club.

The RoughRiders poured in four goals in the first 11 minutes, 34 seconds of the game. Fronk began the scoring at the 3:21 mark and the Riders were off and skating.

Gaudette scored his first goal to make it 2-0, Zach Court connected for a 3-0 lead and Gaudette tallied again to make it 4-0 as the fans ate it up and Dubuque changed goaltenders.

"It was awesome. That was great," said Gaudette, who is from Braintree, Mass. "A good experience. I love it."

Fronk, from the Czech Republic, enjoyed the loud, enthusiastic crowd in his first game in the USHL.

"It's very good. I'm from Czechoslovakia," he said. "In Czechoslovakia, it's small people."

Fronk meant small "crowds," not small "people," but he got the message across. "I'm from Czechoslovakia," he said again with a good-natured smile. "My English is bad."

His hockey was good, however.

"I thought he had a nice game," said Coach Mark Carlson. "He has a good future ahead of him, as long as he's willing to work hard at it. He's off to a good start.

"He has good size, he can skate, he sees the ice, he can shoot it. He's pretty tough."

Gaudette scored two goals in his first 11 1/2 minutes with the RoughRiders.

"Big, strong kid," said Carlson. "His work ethic is incredible. He hunts pucks, he hunts people, he goes to the net-front. His upside is enormous."

Fronk gave Cedar Rapids a 5-1 lead in the second period. Ross Colton made it 6-1 in the third.

"I thought we came out well. We were able to capitalize," said Carlson.

"Obviously we have lots to work on, clean up some things defensively and that type of thing.

"But I thought we saw good things from a lot of guys throughout the lineup."

Dubuque       0  1  1 - 2
Cedar Rapids  4  1  1 - 6

CR - Jiri Fronk (Andrew Oglevie, Zach Court)
CR - Adam Gaudette (Ross Colton, Derek Daschke)
CR - Zach Court (power play)(Mitch Reinke)
CR - Adam Gaudette (Alex Jasiek, Charlie Curti)
DUB - Wyatt Ege (power play)(Seamus Malone, Dylan Gambrell)
CR - Jiri Fronk (Andrew Oglevie, Erik Foley)
CR - Ross Colton (power play)(unassisted)
DUB - Blake Hillman (Nate Sucese)