Cedar Rapids RoughRiders tryout camp: Andrew Oglevie back at The Stable, this time as a coach

CEDAR RAPIDS — He played the second-most games ever for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

Andrew Oglevie is one of two guys to play USHL hockey for the Riders for four seasons. Four full seasons.

He partook in 211 games in the regular season and another seven in the playoffs between 2011 and 2015. Only Chris Snaveley played in more (212 regular season and 230 total).

“I sure do have a lot of memories of The Stable,” Oglevie said Saturday afternoon. “It’s cool. Saw Carly, went down to the locker room and saw all of the upgrades and everything. It’s been awhile since I’ve been through the team space. It was great to see that.”

Oglevie was in town all weekend to observe RoughRiders tryout camp at ImOn Ice Arena as an assistant coach at Colorado College. Former Riders teammate Clark Kuster also was around as an assistant at St. Cloud State.

Others in attendance included former RoughRiders assistant coaches Travis Winter (now an assistant at Bemidji State) and Tom Upton (an assistant at Massachusetts), as well as Cody Campbell, a former C.R. goaltender and head coach of the Minot Minotauros of the junior North American Hockey League.

“A lot of former faces here taking a few pictures and stuff,” Oglevie said.

Let’s call it part of the Mark Carlson coaching tree.

“One of my favorite memories is seeing Carly dance in the locker room to Bruce Springsteen,” Oglevie said with a laugh. “It took me awhile to get things going here. But without him, I couldn’t have played pro hockey or did what I was able to do in college ... He made all those things possible.”

Oglevie, 29, is a southern California native who played three years of college hockey at Notre Dame, where he was a point-per-game player as a sophomore and junior. A forward, he signed a contract with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and spent three seasons in the American Hockey League with their affiliate in Rochester.

  Buy Photo

His final season there (2020-21) was cut short to just 12 games by a concussion, an accumulation of them ultimately forcing him to retire as a player. Rochester head coach Seth Appert allowed Oglevie to help out out the staff, which gave him the coaching bug.

Prior to going to Colorado College, Oglevie worked at Notre Dame.

“Buffalo treated me extremely well during my time in the organization. Still really close with all of them,” he said. “Got my toes dipped into coaching, didn’t know if I wanted to do it. I hadn’t thought about it because I was playing. (Appert) allowed me to get going, and here I am.”

There were 146 players at this year’s tryout camp, which began Friday and concluded with an all-star game of top prospects Sunday. Attendees included 11 guys who played games this past season for the RoughRiders (Donovan Hamilton, Caleb Mahar, Landan Resendes, Aiden Welch, Erik Kald, Guerin Slezak, Drew Stewart, Isaac Johnson, Riley Bassen, Niko Tournas and Rudy Guimond).

Several players taken in the recent two phases of the 2024 United States Hockey League Draft also were here. That included highly-touted forward Thomas Vandenberg and defenseman Cam Chartrand.

Vandenberg was a tender who counted as C.R.’s first-round pick in Phase I, and Chartrand a Phase I second rounder. Both are being recruited heavily by major junior leagues in their native Canada, but the RoughRiders seem confident they will play this coming season with them.

The club must submit a 30-man protected list and an additional affiliate list of younger players in July.

“I see a good draft class here,” said Oglevie, who can’t talk about specific players per NCAA regulations. “Especially the futures picks, I think they did a really good job with that this year. A lot of talent. Guys who are going to be successful Riders for however long they play here. I see talent.”

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com