4 Riders on hiatus

CEDAR RAPIDS - You can look at it as a double-edged sword.

Captain Andrew Oglevie, assistant captain Charlie Curti and teammates Adam Gaudette and Mitch Reinke are flying out of town Wednesday morning for Saskatchewan, where they will be part of a team representing the United States in the World Junior ‘A' Challenge international hockey tournament that begins this weekend.

That the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have enough high-end guys for four to be picked is a big reason they have a United States Hockey League-best 18-3 record going into their home game Wednesday night against the Green Bay Gamblers. But, also because of that, they'll have to get through five contests with a huge chunk of their lineup missing.

'It shows the talent that we have,” said RoughRiders forward Andrew Gaus. 'And I think there are some other guys in here who also could be on that team.”

It's two forwards and two defensemen out of the lineup for Wednesday night's game, two road games this weekend and two next weekend.

Coach/General Manager Mark Carlson promoted 16-year-old defenseman Alec Semandel and 17-year-old forward Sam Craggs from the affiliate roster of younger players, and they'll be available Wednesday.

But everyone knows the heavy lifting will be left to the guys who have been here all season. They appear capable, since 19 different RoughRiders have scored goals and 22 have at least one point.

'It stinks that we're going to be without some of our top players, but it gives guys an opportunity to step up and see what they can do in different situations that they maybe might not have been playing in,”

said Riders forward Erik Foley.

That's the exact message Carlson is sending to his team. By the way, Green Bay has no World Junior ‘A' Challenge players.

Cedar Rapids and Waterloo have the most at four apiece.

'I think it's a compliment to the team as a whole. We've played well enough for some guys to get recognized like that,” Carlson said.

'That's how we've approached it since the announcement of the selections. Certainly the guys going should be proud.

'But as far as us, we are not changing any expectations, or changing the way that we play. We think we have good depth on the team. Any player that has any type of competitive spirit at all in his body … if he's not maybe getting the (ice) time that he thinks he should be getting and is looking to maybe prove the coach wrong, he's got the opportunity now to do that and be a great teammate and get out there and do the job.”

At least the RoughRiders still have their goalie tandem of Ben Blacker and Ryan Larkin intact. They have combined for a league-best 2.05 goals against average and .938 save percentage.

Carlson expects newcomer Joey Marooney to provide a boost as well. He is sure to get regular ice time after being acquired in a trade last week from Sioux Falls.

'I think we'll be fine,” Gaus said. 'Obviously we are going to be missing those guys on the ice and off of it, but I think we have so much depth. Guys are excited to get an opportunity to get more ice time. I think everyone is excited to show that we're a deep team, and that we can still win.”

In other RoughRiders news, Gaudette has been suspended by the USHL for two games for fighting Bloomington's Ryan Siroky at the end of the second period of their game last Saturday night. Siroky also was given a two-game suspension.

That was the first fight of the season the RoughRiders have been involved in. Players receive 15 minutes in penalties this season for fighting, a five-minute major and 10-minute misconduct.

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