Somebody forgot to tell the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders they were too tired to play an excellent hockey game Saturday night.

The RoughRiders, fresh off a 12-hour round trip to Sioux Falls, S.D., summoned enough energy Saturday night to blast Green Bay, 5-0, before 3,441 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Danny Tirone, who can't remember getting two straight shutouts in peewee hockey, posted his second straight USHL shutout in four days as the RoughRiders jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period and dominated the game.

Carlos Fornaris collected two goals and was named the No.1 star of the game, with Tirone No.2 and Mitch Maloney No.3.

The RoughRiders drove 360 miles to Sioux Falls on Friday, beat the Sioux Falls Stampede 3-2 Friday night and returned to Cedar Rapids in the wee hours Saturday morning.

"I got home at like 5 in the morning," said Fornaris. "I got out of bed at 10:30, ate some breakfast and I went back to sleep.

"I took a nap and then I woke up again at like 2, ate some lunch and just relaxed."

Then Fornaris drilled Green Bay with goals that made it 3-0 in the first period and 5-0 near the end of the second period.

Cedar Rapids Coach Mark Carlson is not a big fan of the USHL schedule, which sometimes asks teen-agers (and their head coach) to play back-to-back games in cities that are far apart. Green Bay had do it too, having played in Lincoln, Neb., Friday night.

"Ridiculous. Absolutely absurd. It's insane," Carlson said before changing the topic to avoid getting himself riled up.

Carlson had no complains with his team's performance, although he's always looking for his club to get better.

"We were fortunate to get off to a decent start tonight and we were able to win the hockey game," he remarked. "There's lots of stuff we need to get better at. We'll get back to work on Monday.

"I thought we were able to capitalize on our opportunities, which is important for us," he said. "Some guys are starting to step forward for us. Carlos had a couple of goals for us tonight. It was great to see him get a couple."

The Gamblers out-shot the RoughRiders, 32-21, but Tirone stopped all the pucks that came his direction. He credited his teammates for blocking shots as well and for keeping the Gamblers off to the side of the net instead of in his face.

"It makes it a lot easier for me," he said.

Tirone likes to break a game into segments, to help him stay fresh and mentally sharp. "I don't view it as a 60-minute game," he said. "I try to break it down period by period. I think it helps me. It doesn't feel as long of a game if I do that."

Tirone's teammates gave him the game puck for a job well done.

"Danny played out of his mind," said Fornaris. "It definitely gives us a lot of confidence, knowing you have great goaltending back there."

Maloney, Alex Marsh and Brennan Sanford also scored goals for the RoughRiders, who raised their record to 23-14-1 (47 points) with their third victory in four days.

"Everyone is so committed to winning," said Fornaris. "We have a brand-new team now. We made a lot of changes over the (holiday) break. I think Coach has really instilled in our minds that winning is part of this culture as a RoughRider. That's in our mind."

When things are going well, even those long bus rides don't seem so bad. "When you're winning," said Fornaris, "the bus ride home is a lot of fun."

Green Bay     0  0  0 - 0
Cedar Rapids  3  2  0 - 5

CR - Mitch Maloney (Judd Peterson)
CR - Alec Marsh (Ivan Provorov, Dylan McLaughlin)
CR - Carlos Fornaris (Charlie Curti)
CR - Brennan Sanford (Kevin Shand, Andrew Poturalski)
CR - Carlos Fornaris (Dylan Steman, Andrew Gaus)