Cedar Rapids RoughRiders draft Ryan Philbrick ... twice

CEDAR RAPIDS — Ryan Philbrick is a defenseman for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, his first season in the United States Hockey League.

How he got to this point is the part that’s a bit unusual.

Philbrick was a 12th-round pick of the RoughRiders in the USHL Phase I Draft. Nothing out of the ordinary there, other than that was last year.

The 19-year-old defenseman couldn’t make it to Cedar Rapids’ tryout camp in the summer of 2022, and the club eventually relinquished his USHL rights. But he still was liked enough that the RoughRiders drafted him again last spring, this time in the seventh round.

He’d played in eight games for C.R. going into its home game Saturday night at ImOn Ice against Tri-City, recording four assists and a plus-minus rating of plus-five. The RoughRiders lost Friday night at home to Des Moines, 6-3.

“We’ve always liked Ryan,” RoughRiders Coach/General Manager Mark Carlson said last spring after this fairly unique re-draft of a player. “We expect him to be a big part of our team. As you know, we can only protect so many guys. This isn’t the first time that has happened, where a team drafts a guy back to back. He’s a good character guy, a good player who is going to fit in with us.”

“I knew that this was definitely a possibility. I wanted to come here. I think it’s a good spot to be, and I was happy to come here,” Philbrick said. “I think it’s pretty rare. It is kind of crazy that it happened. But it worked out, so that’s the main thing.”

Philbrick returned for a second year of prep school hockey at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts instead last year. He said it was advantageous in that he was able to play more games and improve his overall game.

“I mean, this is the best level of junior hockey, so I definitely wanted to play (last year),” he said. “But I did think it was good to go back to Cushing and play another year, get another year of experience in prep school and help me make this jump.

“It was my second year there, coming from public high school, so it was just being more comfortable. Try to be one of the best players on the ice, just move the puck efficiently, make sure my skills coming here were sharp and ready to go.”

It’s that puck-moving thing that is his strength.

“I think I’m just a simple player, a puck mover,” he said. “Good stick, try to play good defense. I guess I’d like to say I’m a two-way guy. I just try to keep the puck out of the net and move pucks out of the zone and up the ice.”

“He’s learning the league,” Carlson said. “You know what it’s like, being a first-year defenseman is not easy. He’s learning his way. He can really move the puck, has good toughness to him. He’s just going to keep getting better every day.”

A Concord, N.H. resident, Philbrick will return home for college at the University of New Hampshire.

“When I got the opportunity, it was definitely one I wanted to take,” he said.

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