RoughRiders rely on St. Louis Six Pack

CEDAR RAPIDS - Minnesota is the self-proclaimed “State of Hockey,” though the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have found it just as fruitful to recruit south as north.

That's why there are six Missourians on the 2010-11 roster, all from the St. Louis area. Call them the St. Louis Six Pack.

That's double the amount of Minnesota RoughRiders, by the way. Curious stuff.

“My AAA team in St. Louis has had almost every kid on it play in the USHL,” Riders defenseman Andy Simpson said. “There's a lot of St. Louis Blues alumni that have stayed back there and done a lot of coaching. They're great coaches. We're starting to get a lot of NHL players, too ... It's almost like a new hockey hotbed in the U.S.”

Simpson is from St. Louis suburb Wildwood. Forward Sam Warning is from suburban Chesterfield, while defenseman Greg Amlong and forwards Michael Parks and Ryan McGrath all hail from suburban O'Fallon.

Forward Nick Saracino is the lone “city boy” with a St. Louis address.

“At some point, we all played either with each other or against each other,” Warning said. “This is great, just for St. Louis hockey, too. It's getting better each year. I think people know about St. Louis. It's just seemed to become more competitive the last couple of years.”

All the St. Louis RoughRiders talked about the star-studded coaching they received growing up playing for highly successful programs like the AAA St. Louis Junior Blues and NAHL's St. Louis Bandits.

There was Jeff Brown, Jim Campbell and Basil McRae, all former Blues players. Rob Ramage and Al MacInnis, two of the best defensemen ever to play the game, also tutored them.

It doesn't get much better than that.

“I think the Blues have done a great job there,” RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said. “It's a really nice area, and a lot of the former pros stay in the area and help with youth hockey.”

“Watching the Blues. I think that's definitely how a lot of kids get into it in St. Louis,” said Parks, a draft pick of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. “Hockey in St. Louis is getting bigger every year. We have a lot of guys playing on this team from St. Louis. I actually grew up playing roller hockey with McGrath and Amlong. I played ice - pee wee and bantams - with Saracino. And obviously I played with Warning and Simpson, too.”

So is there a stereotypical St. Louis player? Boston guys are known for their toughness, for instance.

“Almost every kid I've seen come out of St. Louis is just an overall good player,” Simpson said. “Good in every aspect of the game, you know?”