DUBUQUE, IA - The Dubuque Fighting Saints (41-18-1-2, 85 pts) finished the regular season with a 4-2 win on Saturday night over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (27-30-2-3, 59 pts).

The win for the Fighting Saints clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference, locking up  a first-round bye and home ice in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Dubuque will play the winner of the three-game series between the third-seeded Madison Capitols and sixth-seeded Green Bay Gamblers that begins on Monday in Middleton, Wisconsin.

On the Fighting Saints' second power play of the night on Saturday, Heikki Ruohonen charged forward and scored a backhand shot to put Dubuque up 3-2 with just over five minutes to play. Assisted by Edison Engle and Michael Barron, the goal capped a two-for-two night for the Fighting Saints on the power play. Cole Spicer's ninth of the year into the empty sealed the win for Dubuque in the final minute following Ruohonen's go-ahead tally. Spicer finished the weekend with five points on a goal and four assists. 

The Saints offense on Saturday started in the second period with Josh Giuliani scoring on the first power-play chance for the Saints. Spicer assisted on the goal as well as Lucas Van Vliet, who finished a four-point weekend.

Ruohonen and Barron assisted on Giuliani's second of the period after a Riders power-play goal tied the game at 9:23 of the period. Giuliani's 23rd of the season came with just 21 seconds left in the middle period and followed a highlight-reel save by Liam Beerman to keep the game tied.

Beerman finished his 16th win of the season with 21 saves on 23 shots to wrap up the regular season.

The Saints' 41 wins are tied with the 2023-24 team for the second-most in franchise history, marking the fourth time a Saints team has reached the 40-win threshold.

Dubuque begins the Eastern Conference Semifinals next weekend with home-ice advantage in the best-of-five series.