RoughRiders All-Decade Team: Derek Peltier

CLEVELAND - It's called Sauce Hockey, but it's not what you might think.

It's a clothing line for “the perfect hockey swagger,” as its Web site proclaims. We're talking designer shirts for men, hats, and shirts and shorts for women.

One of its owners is former Cedar Rapids RoughRider Brett Beckfeld. Also involved in the fledgling company is one of Beckfeld's best friends and former RoughRiders teammate Derek Peltier.

“Becks and Eric Kleineck started it up, and I just help out the best I can,” Peltier said. “It's essentially a clothing line for people who love hockey.”

Peltier doesn't have the time to be directly involved in Sauce Hockey, which is why he's called a “brand ambassador.” He's too busy with his day job - a defenseman for the American Hockey League's Lake Erie Monsters.

The 24-year-old Minnesota native played for the RoughRiders from 2002 through 2004, then played four years for the University of Minnesota. He was the Golden Gophers' captain his senior season.

Peltier is in his second full season in the Colorado Avalanche organization.

“You get to play hockey every day for a living, and that's not bad,” Peltier said.

Peltier made his NHL debut late last season, playing 11 games for Colorado. His first came at home in front of about a dozen friends and family against the Minnesota Wild at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.

“Awesome. An amazing experience, especially it being at the Xcel,” he said. “I found out at noon that day I was being called up. It was a last-minute thing, it happened so quickly. That was good because I didn't have time to get nervous.”

Peltier was one of the last cuts at this season's Avalanche training camp and has played almost exclusively with Lake Erie. The goal is to get back to Denver and stay there.

“That was definitely disappointing,” he said of training camp. “I worked so hard all summer to make the team. At the same time, you know you've got to keep going and realize you did the best you could.”