Indiana Ice coach Jeff Blashill told his team it was a race to three wins in their best-of-five opening round Clark Cup Series with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. In a photo finish after the Ice fell behind in the series 2-0, his team caught the RoughRiders in Indianapolis and passed them at the finish line in Cedar Rapids with a 3-2 overtime victory.

Anthony Bitetto sent Indiana on to face Green Bay in round two of the Clark Cup playoffs by scoring the game-winner 4:09 into the sudden death period sending the team into a celebration at center ice.

“I can not remember much about it other than I picked up a turnover. I waited for a second and I threw it on net,” stated Bitetto after his team eliminated the RoughRiders for the second consecutive year in game five in Cedar Rapids.

Casey DeSmith earned his third straight victory in net by stopping 37 shots including two in overtime.

“Yeah I was nervous,” commented the Indy goaltender. “It was game five of the series but I never lost confidence in myself or my team.”

Indiana came within 5:08 of winning in regulation but Cedar Rapids caught Indiana near the regulation finish line when Derek DeBlois tied the game at two-all.

The Ice headed to the third period nursing a 2-1 lead and spent most of the final 20 minutes trying to keep the puck in the neutral zone. Relentless pressure by Cedar Rapids finally paid off sending the game into the sudden death period.

Indy finished the third period skating shorthanded the final 42 seconds and the penalty carried into the first 1:18 of overtime setting the stage for Bitetto’s series ending goal.

“It was an incredible series with two evenly matched teams,” said Ice head coach Jeff Blashill. “I definitely thought our team showed a lot of resilience especially being down 2-0 in the series.”

Brian Ferlin redirected a Nick Bailen blue line slap shot on Indiana’s first shot of the second period to score the game’s first goal 39 seconds into the stanza. Bitetto started the scoring sequence and Ferlin finished it by getting his stick on the puck outside the face-off circle.

Things were looking up as Jacob Fallon gave the defending Clark Cup champions a two-goal lead at 5:33 of the second period. Fallon was involved in a scrum in the crease of RoughRider netminder Cody Campbell and had his stick tied up with a loose puck sitting at the post. Fallon was able to free his stick and poke home the puck with Ferlin and Alex Wideman involved in the fray in front of the host’s net. Both were credited with assists.

Jeff Costello cut the lead in half with a power play goal with 11:54 remaining in the frame. Cedar Rapids turned up the heat on Indy with an 11-3 shots on goal advantage after the Ice took the 2-0 lead resulting with Costello breaking through for the hosts.

The Ice now head to Green Bay, WI on Friday for game one of the East Division championship against the Green Bay Gamblers. It marks the second consecutive season the two clubs will be doing battle in the finals. Indy eliminated Green Bay in four games last year, but the Gamblers owned the USHL’s best regular season record in 09-10.