Riders enter garden of Eden to learn fighting

CEDAR RAPIDS - Steve Eden was getting a workout despite doing little of the working.

The Cedar Rapids man swept the sweat from his brow as he instructed Jeff Costello and Peter Sakaris on the fine art of boxing after a recent Cedar Rapids RoughRiders practice. Eden held up practice mitts and calmly gave intermittent pointers as Costello, then Sakaris - wearing red boxing gloves - smashed away at him.

“I tell you what, I like this Sakaris kid,” Eden said, taking a break. “If he ever gave up this hockey thing, he could be a good boxer.”

A realtor by trade and former Golden Gloves champ, Eden sparred with Muhammad Ali when Ali made a promotional appearance in Cedar Rapids in the 1980s.

He's been a behind-the-scenes contributor to the RoughRiders since their inaugural season of 1999-2000. Like it or not, fighting is part of the game in junior hockey, and it's Eden's job to teach Cedar Rapids players how to do it.

“Steve loves being with the guys, and the guys love being with him,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. “I consider him a coach. The biggest thing he teaches the kids is confidence.”

“He just works a lot with your punches. Your technique,” said RoughRiders winger Derek DeBlois. “Instead of wasting energy by punching as hard as you can, you've got to punch the right way. You get a lot more power when you hit a certain way, and he teaches that.”

Eden said he knew nothing about hockey when he got a phone call from former RoughRiders owner Butch Johnson. The RoughRiders were playing the first half of their season on the road while the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena was being built, and Johnson was concerned about them getting pushed around on the ice.

“Butch just said ‘Hey, look. These guys have been on the road, they've been having some problems, just getting their ass kicked,'” Eden recalled. “I didn't know anything about hockey, but he wanted to know if we could get together. I thought maybe he wanted to buy a house or something. But he asked me if I would give them boxing lessons.”

The RoughRiders and Eden have been a partnership since.

Because this is a young team, Eden has been making weekly trips to the ice arena for pugilistic tutelage. As the season has worn on, you've seen an uptick in the team's physicality, including more fighting.

“The first thing you teach a guy is defense. How not to get hit,” Eden said. “Then it's how to punch and to relax. That's difficult. Nobody wants to take a direct punch.

“Coach Carlson is not a proponent of fighting in hockey. But he realizes that (it's important) ... You can't just let guys beat up on you. You can't just skate away from the problem.”

Costello, for one, never seems to skate away from a problem. He's the roughest, toughest RoughRider who also happens to be its leading goal scorer.

“Yeah, I do enjoy fighting,” he said. “It's a part of the game. Why not fight? You only have to sit five minutes in the (penalty) box.”

Here's video of Eden working with Costello after a recent RoughRiders practice: