The race for the Eastern Conference title in the USHL got a lot tighter Friday night.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders belted Waterloo, 7-2, and the Youngstown Phantoms finally lost after 17 straight victories, giving the RoughRiders renewed hope of claiming the conference title.

The RoughRiders raised their record to 37-17-0 for 74 points with six games left in the regular season for them.

Youngstown lost to Omaha, 4-2, dropping the Phantoms to 36-14-5 for 77 points with five games left in their regular season.

Andrew Oglevie and Jiri Fronk scored for the RoughRiders in the first period Friday for a 2-0 lead before 3,376 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. Andrew Gaus and Joe Wegwerth tallied in the second period for a 4-0 advantage and the RoughRiders coasted home from there.

Tyler Gernhofer scored back-to-back goals to give Cedar Rapids a 6-1 lead in the third stanza. Erik Foley scored a short-handed goal for a 7-1 bulge.

Foley and Gaus collected two assists. Charlie Curti, Dylan McLaughlin, Hugh McGing, Casey Jerry and Matt O'Donnell also had assists for the RoughRiders.

Ben Blacker stopped 25 shots in goal for Cedar Rapids. The RoughRiders visit Dubuque Saturday night.

Waterloo       0  1  1 - 2
RoughRiders  2  3  2 - 7

CR - Andrew Oglevie (Erik Foley, Charlie Curti)
CR - Jiri Frank (unassisted)
CR - Andrew Gaus (Erik Foley)
CR - Joe Wegwerth (Andrew Gaus, Dylan McLaughlin)
WAT - Ronnie Hein (power play) (Blake Hillman, Brock Boeser)
CR - Tyler Gernhofer (Hugh McGinn)
CR - Tyler Gernhofer (Casey Jerry, Matt O'Donnell)
CR - Erik Foley (shorthanded) (Andrew Gaus)
WAT - Nick Swaney (Ethan Spaxman)