CEDAR RAPIDS — Corey Petrash was probably the favorite on paper. On glass, actually. A week earlier, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders forward broke a pane of plexiglass behind one of the nets with a shot. The maintenance crew at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena was muttering his name while cleaning up the mess. “It really [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS – They may not make the United States Hockey League playoffs. Honestly, it’d be a minor miracle if they do at this point. But the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders will always have Saturday night. The night they, quite frankly, kicked the crap out of their biggest rival. Dylan Gareau had two first-period goals, the [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — It wasn’t just that the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders won Wednesday night. It was the way they won that was so encouraging. An actual defensive battle went the Riders’ way, 3-1, before 1,803 fans at the Ice Arena. Very nicely done. “I think we’re coming together as a group,” said Riders co-captain Davey [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s their sport, and they hate it when something bad happens to it. Make no mistake, last weekend’s lockout of National Hockey League players by league owners is bad for hockey. It’s the fourth work stoppage in 18 years for the NHL, and this one could last awhile. “It’s going to be [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Was this the last hockey game this season at The Stable? “No,” Davey Middleton said quickly and emphatically. Of course, that’s what the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders winger and the rest of his teammates are supposed to say, even though the odds are considerably stacked against them getting back here and hosting a [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Their spot in the division is pretty much set. Who they play in the first round of the USHL playoffs is out of their control. You wonder what the motivation is for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders these last handful of games in the regular season. “The motivation is to keep improving, keep [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS — Jake Hildebrand played hurt Friday night. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders goaltender bumped his knee into a metal post while playing pregame “sewerball” with his teammates. It’s like baseball “pepper,” only with a soccer ball. Hildebrand toughed it out and made his seventh straight start, taking a tough 3-2 loss to Dubuque, [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — The readings on the radar gun seemed a little low at first, so it was decided the guy holding it would move closer than his normal perch behind the glass next to the goal judge’s booth. It’s a tad unnerving, to say the least, to sit on the ice directly behind the net [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — You figured the spigot would get turned on eventually for Ryan McGrath. Nice to see it has for the rest of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, too. It was six more goals for a hockey club that’s resembling the 1980s Edmonton Oilers lately. A 6-4 win over Chicago before 3,615 fans at The [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS – Why Davey? “My grandpa has been called that before, too,” explained Cedar Rapids RoughRiders winger Davey Middleton. “It just stuck as a kid. My name is David, but everyone just calls me Davey. That’s the way it’s been pretty much my whole life.” For the RoughRiders, Davey has been gravy since being acquired [...]