RoughRiders trade Forgione, Kravchenko, draft Duluth prep with 1st pick

CEDAR RAPIDS - It was an interesting United States Hockey League Entry Draft for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders Tuesday from the standpoint that Coach/General Manager Mark Carlson and his staff had a lot of down time.

Because they have so many potential returning players, the Riders took just five players initially while other clubs in the league caught up to them in number of protected players/draft picks. Trades then gave them five draft picks in the 15th round, and they were done by the 16th.

Omaha, for instance, didn't finish until round 23.

"We were able to take players at numerous positions," Carlson said.

The club's first pick (second round, No. 16 overall) was center Judd Peterson, a 6-foot, 190-pound center from Duluth (Minn.) Marshall High School. Peterson is committed to play college hockey at St. Cloud State.

“A good-sized center who can really skate and passes the puck well,” Carlson said. “He plays with a lot of speed.”

The RoughRiders took defensemen with their next three selections: Clark Kuster of St. Louis (22nd overall), Gavin Bayreuther of New Hampshire (37th overall, a St. Lawrence commit) and Scott Moldenhauer of Oak Ridge, N.C. (52nd overall).

"(Kuster) is a puck-moving defenseman," Carlson said. "He can play on the power play."

Cedar Rapids made one big trade on draft day, sending forwards Dennis Kravchenko and Tom Forgione to Sioux Falls for draft picks. Kravchenko had 21 points in 34 games after joining the team midseason from the North American Hockey League.

Forgione had 10 goals in 40 games. Both are University of Vermont recruits.

“Sioux Falls has a new coach there, and he had an interest in a number of our forwards,” Carlson said. “We have a lot of forwards returning. This is a move that benefits the players and our club.”

Cedar Rapids also drafted an Iowan in forward Williem Nong-Lambert, a Des Moines native who was playing for the Russell Stover in Kansas City. Others selected were winger Alec Marsh (New Jersey Rockets Jr. B), defenseman Avni Berisha (Team Comcast/Philadelphia), RW Jason Kalinowski (a prep player from Connecticut), F Trevor Stone (Chicago Mission minor midget) and goalie Drew Fogler (Chesterfield, Mo., minor midget).

Defenseman Preston Hodge, who played the 2011-12 season with the Riders, was drafted by the Dubuque Fighting Saints after being left off the Cedar Rapids protected list.