Filipe a potential star for RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - Part of adapting to the United States Hockey League is learning the compete level you must have on a nightly basis. Or the compete level Cedar Rapids RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson expects from you on a nightly basis.

It's not easy.

Matt Filipe arguably has the brightest hockey future of any Riders player. He's got about everything you look for in a player, a potential star with a college commitment to Northeastern University and quite possibly a National Hockey League pick in the spring of 2016.

He scored four goals in his first three USHL games and had at least one point in his first four. Yet he found himself a healthy scratch for the RoughRiders' fifth game, last Friday night at Tri-City.

The RoughRiders (5-0) play Friday night at Des Moines and host Dubuque on Saturday night.

'He's a big, strong guy who can really skate,” Carlson said. 'He's got a good shot, good speed. When he's playing hard and moving his feet, he's a dangerous player. That's with or without the puck. That's what we want to see. He needs to be more consistent with those things. That's why he's here, to get better.”

A better Filipe is a scary proposition. The 18-year-old from Lynnfield, Mass., was named to a United States Under-18 select team that participated last August in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

He then went on to score 14 goals in 21 games as a junior for Malden Catholic High School in Boston. The RoughRiders drafted him in Phase II of the 2014 USHL Entry Draft.

NHL Central Scouting recently graded him as a preseason ‘C' prospect for the 2016 NHL Draft, meaning he has the potential to get taken in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds.

'Not much,” he said, when asked what that means to him. 'I'm not really sure who is picking that and stuff. You don't like to think about that, don't let it get in your head because that's when you start thinking about it, you have a bad game and you start thinking about it more. If you just go out there and play your game, that stuff will take care of itself.”

Some have compared his game to that of 2014-15 RoughRider Erik Foley, who actually was his teammate at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. Foley scored 27 goals for Cedar Rapids last season, was taken by the Winnipeg Jets in the third round of the 2015 NHL Draft and is a freshman at defending national champion Providence College.

Foley also is a Bostonite.

'I think the preseason was big for all of us because it gives you that initial view of how the league is and the speed of it,” Filipe said. 'Just coming in here, I knew it was going to be a lot faster and more physical compared to high school. The transition's going to be tough. I think as a team, the young guys, we're doing alright so far, and that includes myself. We'll just keep working and getting more comfortable moving on.”

Filipe's father Paul is a Northeastern University Athletics Hall of Famer, so it should be no surprise that's where he'll play college hockey.

'I grew up going to those games,” Matt said. 'It's 20 minutes from my house, it's a great atmosphere. I love going there and watching the games. I'm looking forward to that experience.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com