Corridor Cross Checks: Surf’s Up, Dude!

CEDAR RAPIDS - You could probably debate which member of the Iowa Heartlanders hockey team has the best sense of humor. Debate who is the best cook, the best ping-pong player, etc.

But when it comes to surfing, that’s Dakota Raabe. Hands down or boards up, however you want to say it.

The second-year forward was a member of his high school’s surfing team in Capistrano Beach, Calif. The coastal city is in Orange County, south of Los Angeles.

“It was my first period in school,” Raabe said. “So my mom would drop me off at, like, 6:30 in the morning. We’d surf from 6:30 to 8:30, then my next class wouldn’t start until noon. Then I didn’t have a class after the noon one. So I’d go to lunch and then got to go home. That was my Mondays and Wednesdays.”

Prep surfing is co-ed and broken down between shortboard, longboard and bodyboard competitions. There are individual and team rankings released by the Scholastic Surf Series, the same as you’d see team rankings in Iowa for football.

The season is in the fall, going on right now.

“We’d compete against all the schools that are along the coast there,” Raabe said. “We had surf competitions once a week, had varsity, JV, all the levels. There would be certain heats, and you’d get to compete one day out of the week. You’d usually compete against one school at a time, then switch the next week.”

So how in the world did a surf kid get into hockey? Raabe said his father played a little bit of roller hockey, and that’s how he got started in the game.

A coach told him he ought to try ice hockey, he did, and the rest is history. The 27-year-old played junior hockey for the Wenatchee Wild in the state of Washington, four years of college hockey at Michigan and a graduate year at Sacred Heart in Connecticut.

He then turned pro, playing 10 games in 2021-22 for the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL, the entire 2022-23 season for Utah and then 33 games last season before being traded to the Heartlanders.

He had four goals and four assists in 12 games for Iowa and is off to a two-goal-and-one-assist start in four games this season for the Heartlanders.

“I think a big part for me is just playing a defensive game,” Raabe said. “I think playing defense first and buying into the system will really lead to a lot of offensive opportunities for me. And just really when I do get my chances, work on finishing them. Especially for my team, they are going to need me to finish my chances. That’s a big goal of mine.”

Raabe smiled when asked if he had some serious game when it came to surfing as well. He said he was able to get out on the waves this past summer.

“All my friends are along the beach there,” he said. “I don’t really have my wet suit anymore, but I had a couple of buddies that let me use their stuff. I’m not bad, was probably better a couple of years ago. But now probably a little rusty.”

The Heartlanders (1-2-1) split a pair of games last week against Bloomington. They lost at home, 4-2, but won on the road against the expansion Bison, 5-4, in a shootout.

Iowa had a 4-1 lead after two periods of the latter game, only to have Bloomington tie it. Jack O’Brien was the only successful shooter in the shootout.

Iowa and Bloomington play yet again Wednesday night at Xtream Arena (7:05 opening faceoff). The Heartlanders then play Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Tulsa.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

It was a rough weekend for the RoughRiders. They lost a pair of road games, including one in excruciating fashion.

That one was Friday night to Madison. Bobby Cowan scored a goal with 16 seconds left in regulation to tie things, and the Capitols ended up winning in a shootout, 3-2.

Madison had the only successful shootout attempt.

Daniel Astapovich’s power-play goal with 4:06 to go in regulation gave Cedar Rapids a 2-1 lead. Charles Blanchard began the scoring in the game with a goal 5:37 into the first period.

The RoughRiders then lost the following night at Waterloo, 4-0. Goaltender Daniel Moor made 31 saves, including 15 in the third period, a period in which C.R. outshot Waterloo, 15-4, but was outscored 2-0.

The club made multiple player moves last week, including trading second-year forward Landan Resendes to Youngstown in exchange for forwards Sam Ranallo and Grant Young. Resendes, a Boston College commit, had a goal and three assists in nine games this season for Cedar Rapids after scoring 14 goals in 59 games last season.

Ranallo, a St. Thomas commit, had nine goals last season for Youngstown. Young, a Harvard commit, had 15 goals last season for the Phantoms.

The RoughRiders also released defensemen Nikita Konevych and Eero Prihti. They play a pair of home games at ImOn Ice Arena this weekend against the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Both games (Friday and Saturday nights) have an opening faceoff time of 7:05.

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