Hurricane Milton behind him and his family, Jason Musa of C.R. RoughRiders can concentrate on hockey

CORALVILLE — He claimed he wasn’t overly nervous about it. More like mildly concerned.

Jason Musa lives in Estero, Fla., and has been through hurricanes before. Six or seven of them in his young life, the first-year Cedar Rapids RoughRiders forward figured.

He wasn’t part of Hurricane Milton, as he’s in Iowa, of course. The storm hit the western coast of Florida on Wednesday night.

Musa’s family heeded the warnings and got out of Estero (which is near Fort Myers), evacuating their home and driving four hours or so to Jacksonville, Fla., where Jason’s father, Joe, has family.

“Every day,” Jason Musa said, when asked Wednesday afternoon how much he was paying attention to Milton’s meanderings. “It’s all over my social media. Not really (nervous) because growing up in Florida, you have to deal with hurricanes all the time. It’s in the back of your mind what could happen, but hopefully things will be OK.”

Things couldn’t have been any worse for the Musa family than they were in 2016 for Hurricane Matthew. About to evacuate their home, which was then in Jacksonville, it got broken into, believe it or not.

“Had a nice house on the water,” Jason Musa said. “It was terrible. We had a lot of land in the backyard, and the water came all the way up to our pool. We drained our pool in case the water got up to our house, so it would go into the pool first.

“Then while we were evacuating, our house ended up getting robbed. While we were evacuating. They stole my sisters’ and mom’s jewelry, electronics, A lot of stuff. Threw a brick through our front door, unlocked it and went right in the house.”

Hurricanes aren’t the only story with the 17-year-old Musa. The kid can play hockey.

He has three assists in five games for Cedar Rapids (3-2), which plays Friday night at Fargo and Saturday night at Sioux Falls. Musa is part of a hockey playing family.

His father played professionally, including in the minor leagues for the NHL’s Boston Bruins. His brothers, Joey and Jack, play college hockey together at the University of Massachusetts.

Jason has committed to UMass and potentially will get to play with Jack in a couple of years. Jack Musa played for the RoughRiders two seasons ago.

“Growing up with my brothers, they’ve kind of showed me the way,” Jason said. “I’ve just stepped right in and felt like I belong. It’s been good so far.”

Jack gave him advice on playing for the RoughRiders and Coach Mark Carlson.

“He told me that you’ve got to do what Carly says,” Jason said. “You’ve got to play the way he wants you to play if you want to get a lot of minutes. He told me the way (Carlson) wants you to play: hard-nosed, hitting, forechecking hard. He basically showed me the way, told me what to expect so I could walk right in here and be ready.”

Carlson said Musa has been ready.

“First of all, he is extremely competitive,” Carlson said. “He really works off the ice, is way dedicated. And he is very talented and skilled. Sees the ice, has hockey sense, has a great feel for the game.”

Musa is almost always the smallest kid on the ice, as he checks in at just 5-foot-6. That doesn’t dissuade him from playing a 200-foot game.

He knows it can’t.

“I’d say I’m a smaller forward who isn’t afraid to go into gritty areas all over the ice,” he said. “I feel like I’m a playmaker who can make a lot of plays. Do what’s asked. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

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