Corridor Cross Checks: An entire former Cedar Rapids RoughRiders forward line graduates to the NHL

CEDAR RAPIDS - Mark Carlson saves lineup cards from games he has coached the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

He’s got oodles of them from over the years stashed on one of the bookshelves in his office at ImOn Ice. There’s a ton of history there, a ton of memories.

“Look at these,” Carlson shows you.

He pulls out a handful from the 2014-15 season. They all feature the same second forward line: Ross Colton on left wing, Adam Gaudette at center and Cal Burke at right wing.

Burke made his National Hockey League debut last week with the Colorado Avalanche, meaning the entire line has played in the sport’s top league. That’s really remarkable.

Colton has won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Gaudette has played 218 games in the NHL with Vancouver, Chicago and Ottawa. He’s currently in the American Hockey League, hockey’s top minor league, with the Toronto Marlies.

“I just think it’s awesome,” Carlson said. “Obviously, those three were really good players. But we try to get our guys (now) to understand that you talk about mental toughness, all three of them were mentally tough. All three of them worked their tails off. All three of them came in here when no one was saying ‘This guy’s a sure-fire NHL player.’

“To their credit, and it’s an absolute compliment to them, is they worked, they got better, they listened, they trained, they were coachable, they were hungry, they were passionate, they were tough. And they all made it to the NHL.”

Carlson said the Colton-Gaudette-Burke line played together “40-plus” games during the 2014-15 season here. Colton had a modest 33 points in 58 games overall, Gaudette 30 points in 50 games and Burke 20 goals and 40 points in 60 games.

Colton and Burke played another season with the RoughRiders before heading to college. Gaudette went to Northeastern University, where he won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player.

Colton played at Vermont and Burke at Notre Dame before pursuing pro hockey careers.

“I remember one game in Sioux Falls. It was in the fall,” Carlson said. “It was, like, October or November. We were behind, it was a huge crowd of 11,000 people or so, and those guys were just flying around the ice. Back to that mental toughness thing. They scored big goals for us, and we ended up winning that game.”

The RoughRiders lost both games last week, falling at home to Dubuque, 5-0, Friday night, then losing in a shootout at Waterloo, 5-4, the following night. Cedar Rapids is 9-9-2-1 for 21 standings points, seventh in the eight-team Eastern Conference, though just four points out of second.

The Riders play Friday night at home against the United States National Team Development Program’s older club, then heads to Green Bay for a Saturday night game.

THE IOWA HEARTLANDERS

A two-week road trip to Canada involved a whole bunch of heartache.

The Heartlanders didn’t win any of their five games at Trois-Rivieres and Newfoundland, in fact losing the final four in overtime. Yes, seriously.

Iowa lost in regulation to Trois-Rivieres, 4-2, to begin the trip. Then it was a 5-4 OT loss to the Lions and losses to the Growlers in overtime, 4-3, 3-2 and 4-3, in that order.

Iowa still hasn’t won a road game this ECHL season, sporting an 0-8-5 record away from Xtream Arena. It is 4-9-6-1 overall, its 15 standings points placing its seventh and last in the Central Division.

The ECHL record for most losses in overtime or a shootout is 18, by the Mobile Mysticks in 2000-01.

The Heartlanders return home for an unusual 10:35 a.m. game at Xtream Arena against the Kalamazoo Wings, with lots of school kids expected to be in attendance. The Wings stick around the Iowa City/Coralville area for the remainder of the week, playing Friday night and Saturday night games at Iowa (7:05 opening faceoffs both nights).

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