“Captain America” hopes to be hero for RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS – He admits he gets razzed sometimes.

His new teammates with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are known to call him 'Captain America.” It's a nickname distributed in good fun.

Joe Wegwerth spent the previous two seasons as a member of the United States National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Those guys are essentially the blue bloods of the sport, considered to have the most high-end talent for their age group in the country.

The two USNTDP teams (Under-17 and Under-18) combine to play a full 60-game United States Hockey League schedule, take on college teams from time to time and represent the U.S. at various international tournaments during their season.

'Thankfully (teammte) Andrew Oglevie has put on the jersey a few times, too, so it's nice to have somebody else (getting grief).” said Wegwerth, whose RoughRiders played Friday night at Bloomington and host Waterloo on Saturday night. 'At the NTDP, there is such a focus on development ... It's literally a candy shop for hockey players. What you put into it, you get out of it. They have every tool there for you to be successful.”

The Brewster, N.Y., native is a Notre Dame commit and fourth-round draft pick of the NHL's Florida Panthers who aged out of 'The Program” this season. ND coaches felt he needed another year of development in order to make an immediate impact in college hockey, so he is spending another year in juniors.

Wegwerth was taken by the Green Bay Gamblers in the second round of the 2014 USHL Draft. With a need for size, the RoughRiders traded for him a couple of weeks ago.

He has an assist in five games here.

'The guys have been very helpful, really great, so they've made it easy,” said Wegwerth, who had five goals and 21 points in 35 games for Green Bay. 'It was the first time I've been traded, so there was shock. But I was really excited to come to a place like Cedar Rapids, with a tradition of success and a bunch of guys who are hungry to win.”

Wegwerth said the style of play Cedar Rapids prefers is virtually identical to what he was taught at the USNTDP. Basically it's fast, up-tempo hockey.

He feels he can bring leadership and a winning attitude to his new team. The USNTDP won the U-18 World Championships last year in Finland.

'It's a tough program, but it's very, very rewarding,” he said. 'I made some friendships there that I'm going to have forever. You have a goal that you set out (top obtain) for two years, and you try and accomplish that. Going to Finland and winning the world championship was a dream come true. What would be even better would be to cap everything off with a Clark Cup championship. That's the next goal.”

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