Disappointing season about to end for RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - The boys of winter are headed home. A lot earlier than they have in years.

It's been since the inaugural 1999-2000 season that the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders haven't played a United States Hockey League postseason game. This team has been eliminated from the playoffs for the better part of a month.

A weekend home series with Team USA ends the regular season ... and season.

"Everyone wants to make the playoffs, so this is definitely disappointing," said Riders winger Dylan McLaughlin.

“It's disappointing because we have a team that I think could be in the playoffs and compete for the Clark Cup," said RoughRiders defenseman Scott Moldenhauer. "But I think a lot of the guys will be back next year, and we're looking forward to that. We'll have a great team next year, with a good shot at it, for sure.”

Before the talk turns to next season, let's take a look at why this season didn't go so well. Cedar Rapids has a 24-30-8 record going into the weekend.

The RoughRiders have been outscored by 33 goals, not a good number. Their leading scorer, Gerald Mayhew, ranks 42nd overall in the USHL, meaning there was not a player or top line that regularly could be counted on for that big goal in games. Defensive lapses continually seemed to plague this team.

Then there were off-ice issues last offseason and during this season that forced Riders Coach Mark Carlson to trade away important players. Goalie Steve Michalek was brought in midseason from Harvard but was told by the school to quit playing a month and a half later or risk future eligibility.

Assistant coach Travis Winter left the team under good circumstances midseason to take a head coaching position in the North American Hockey League, assistant Phil Tetzlaff and goaltending coach Scott Meyer left under not so good circumstances midseason. Carlson has been coaching the last two months with the help of volunteer assistant Doug Leaverton and occasional assistance from Kevin Brooks, Youth Hockey Director at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, and Mark Mullen, a former Riders assistant who is a scout for the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.

Phil Osaer and Tom Upton were announced this week as full-time assistants for next season.

Things got so ludicrous from a bad-luck standpoint for this club that trainer/equipment manager Chris Ipson missed over a month after suffering a heart attack and having quadruple-bypass surgery. "Ipper" is back and healthy, by the way.

"There have been lots of challenges. But there have always been challenges in a lot of different areas (over the years)," Carlson said. "I always look at the positives, and you've got to learn to get better at a lot of things. You can ask the guys about this, but it really seems to me that this group has turned into the tightest team we've ever had. It's human nature to want to go home when you're playing junior hockey. But I don't think there's anybody sprinting for the door here. I think they enjoy being with each other, and they feel they're still getting better. I think they like their team on the ice, I think they like their team off the ice.”

In many ways, the Riders are playing their best hockey right now. They had a four-game win streak and streak of five consecutive games earning a standings point snapped last Saturday at Waterloo.

They haven't quit, and that's highly admirable.

“There's not a guy on this team who has stopped playing hard because we're not going to be in the playoffs," Moldenhauer said. "Which is nice, looking toward next season.  All the character that we have on this team.”

“The guys are practicing hard and are in good spirits," Carlson said. "You always wish you'd won more games, no matter what the situation. But I think these guys have learned a lot about themselves, learned a lot about team work, learned a lot about battling adversity and work ethic and accountability. All these things kind of get pushed by the wayside a lot. That's what it's really all about. Learning those things and getting better. Whether it's guys who will return or move on to college, I really believe they've improved as players, and they've improved as people.”

The Riders will lose important players such as defensemen Justin Wade and Ian Brady and leading scorers Mayhew and David Goodwin to college hockey, but there could be a host of returning players. Cedar Rapids got a good start on recruiting last month by signing 16-year-old Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov to a USHL tender.

He is considered a high-level talent with first-round NHL draft potential.

“It's a number of little things that we've got to be better at," Carlson said. "The coaching staff has got to lead the way making sure that we are better in every area.”