Cedar Rapids RoughRiders begin 2025-26 season Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh

CEDAR RAPIDS - The first word you heard when asked for a team scouting report was “speed.”

The next word you heard was “depth.”

Now will the word “wins” ultimately go with speed and depth? We’ll find out beginning Friday afternoon.

That’s when the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders begin their 2025-26 hockey season. They play Des Moines in the season opener as part of the United States Hockey League’s Fall Classic in suburban Pittsburgh.

All 16 USHL teams play a pair of games at the practice facility of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins in a showcase in front of college and professional scouts and a few fans. C.R.’s second game in the event is Saturday night against Youngstown.

“It’s been a good camp, a lot of positives,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson, who is three away from the USHL’s all-time record for regular-season coaching victories. “I think the depth (has stood out), I think we have good depth at all three positions. I think some of our guys who are second-year players have really taken steps, and you love seeing that. A lot of the first-year guys have come in and done a good job so far.”

OK, there was that word “depth.” As evidence of it, the club traded away returning players Kole Hyles and Tomas Mikel last week.

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“That just shows the depth of our team and the tough decisions he had to make to put the best team on the ice,” said forward Grant Young. “That’s a huge plus that’s he had to make those decisions. Just shows how good we have it and how many guys that can play each position and do it well.”

Young is one of 11 returnees from last season, though that list includes forward David Bosco, who played just one game, and defenseman Mason Minor, who played three. Young had two goals and an assist in two preseason games for the RoughRiders, and Minor had three goals in four games.

Cedar Rapids saw its top six scorers from last season move on to either college hockey or major junior hockey in Canada. The NCAA’s decision to allow major junior players (who receive a financial stipend) to play college hockey has created quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding the USHL, which has lost a number of players, especially from Canada, because of the new rules.

The top returning scorer for the Riders is forward Jason Musa, who had six goals and 19 assists last season in 59 regular-season games. Also back are forwards Robert Chlan, Nick Romeo and Noel Ohgren, as well as defensemen Hawke Huff, Joseph Mense, Guerin Slezak and Joseph Fenton.

Slezak is on long-term injured reserve as he recovers from offseason knee surgery. He hopes to return sometime in November.

“A lot of speed from this group of guys,” said Romeo, using that “speed” word. “Bunch of great guys. We’re just trying to get better every day. Keep the pace high, be a physical team to play against, be an annoying team to play against. Just do the little things to let us win ballgames.”

“I think we’re a really, really fast team,” Young said. “Definitely faster than last season. We have a lot of speed. I think we have a lot of guys who are really smart and play really well with the puck. I think we’re also physical. Our back end is really good. I think we compete really hard, which is huge. I feel like the first few practices have been really crisp, Coach said it himself. Kind of build off that, set a high bar to start off and build off that ... I feel good about it, for sure.”

Cedar Rapids will have two new goaltenders, as A.J. Reyelts opted to play major junior and Drew Rustlie was a recent drop. Ryan Cameron will the primary guy and comes from very good credentials as a Boston College commit who was named USA Hockey’s Goaltender of the Year last year in the lower-level North American Hockey League.

Young 17-year-old Joseph Skidmore will be C.R.’s other goalie. Of the newcomers, look for 16-year-old tender Braiden Scuderi, a forward, and 2025 draft picks Karson Young (first round) and Cooper Simon (second round).

The RoughRiders went 27-30-2-3 last regular season, which was sixth in the Eastern Conference. They lost in the deciding Game 3 of their first-round playoff series to eventual Clark Cup champion Muskegon.

“I think the sky’s the limit for us,” Romeo said. “We’re going to start with one game at a time this weekend in Pittsburgh. First one’s against Omaha and just work from there. We’ll do everything we can to come back with four points.”

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