Diamonds and Ice by Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson
Multi-media sports reporter for SourceMedia in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who has covered it all over the past 20-plus years. Particularly enjoy baseball and hockey.

Blog Posts

Dylan McLaughlin

RoughRiders win rare morning game, 7-3, over Chicago

BENSENVILLE, Ill. – Andrew Poturalski had two goals and Alec Marsh a goal and four assists as the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders toppled the Chicago Steel, 7-3, in a rare Wednesday morning USHL game. The game began at 10 a.m.as part of a school day promotion. The RoughRiders allowed the first two goals of the game but [...]

continue »

Poturalski helps stop RoughRiders skid with hat trick

Goalie Danny Tirone, RoughRiders defense also had a solid night

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have had a tough go of things lately. The ‘Riders entered last night’s game against the Team USA Under-18 squad on a five-game losing streak, and had lost six of seven overall. But a strong night in net for goaltender Danny Tirone and a hat trick from Andrew [...]

continue »

Kevin Shand of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders lets loose with a slap shot during the team's fifth-annual Hardest Shot Competition at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. (The Gazette-KCRG photo by Justin Wan)

RoughRiders’ Kuster shows his muster

CEDAR RAPIDS – Never say Mark Carlson lacks caring. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders head coach watched an unnamed idiot park himself behind one of the goals at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena last week and pull out a radar gun as player after player fired slap shots as hard as they possibly could. At one [...]

continue »

Riders

RoughRiders lose to USNTDP in overtime, 5-4

  ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Sonny Milano scored his second goal of the game 1:46 into overtime to lift the United States National Team Development Program’s Under-18 team past the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, 5-4, Friday night. The teams play against Saturday night. Milano is a Boston College commitment and possible first-round pick in this summer’s [...]

continue »

RoughRiders doubled up at Green Bay

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Gamblers scored six of the final seven goals and knocked off the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, 6-3, in USHL hockey Sunday afternoon at Resch Center. Cedar Rapids built a 2-0 lead after one period on goals from Andrew Poturalski and Andrew Oglevie. But it all went downhill from there. [...]

continue »

Nate Widman

Rough weekend schedule, rougher night for RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS – And now it’s time for the really tough part of a really tough weekend. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders will hop on their charter bus early Sunday morning for a 3:05 p.m. game at Green Bay, fresh off a 5-2 loss to the Lincoln Stars on Saturday night at The Stable. This was not a [...]

continue »

Riders

RoughRiders win at Sioux City

  SIOUX CITY – Dylan Steman had two goals to help the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders past the Sioux City Musketeers, 5-3 Friday night. Brennan Sanford scored the first goal for Cedar Rapids (29-15-2, 60 points), which has jumped two points ahead of third-place Dubuque in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. The RoughRiders host Lincoln on Saturday [...]

continue »

Riders

Recent attendance surge has RoughRiders feeling warm

  CEDAR RAPIDS – This prolonged and unrelenting winter is nothing for a guy who spent time growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Now those are places that get downright miserable. Between December and February, as an example, the mean temperature in Winnipeg has been minus-two degrees. “Yeah, but I didn’t move south for [...]

continue »

Dylan McLaughlin

McLaughlin scores in 4th straight game as RoughRiders continue roll

CEDAR RAPIDS – He deflected the question masterfully. It’s team first, you know. “I’m just happy about the wins,” Dylan McLaughlin said after his Cedar Rapids RoughRiders took out Muskegon, 6-3, Friday night before 3,460 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. “I mean, it’s always nice (to score). Me and my linemates are just [...]

continue »

Kevin Shand

Shand gets a chance with RoughRiders, sheds pounds to make most of it

CEDAR RAPIDS – Imagine getting your big break. You’ve toiled at lower junior levels all season, doing work and getting better. Suddenly a coach and general manager of a team in the best junior hockey league in America unexpectedly calls and brings you in to practice. A week later, he offers you a spot on [...]

continue »