Milestones all around for prep RoughRiders' teams

They still don't know much about her sport at her school. 

"They're not at all into hockey at Solon," smiled Jordan Fencl. "It's all about football there. I'm a senior, and, still, teachers are like 'Oh, you play hockey.' I'm like, 'Yeah, since I was 9.'" 

The senior has helped the Cedar Rapids Lady RoughRiders to a 19-1-4 record going into their weekend tournament in Pittsburgh. The team was the first all-girl squad in Iowa,  qualifying last season for the USA Hockey Tier II National Tournament. 

They're likely to make it to nationals again this season, which is next month in California. 

You want more? Fencl recently became the first player - boy or girl - to go through the youth program in Cedar Rapids to commit to play college hockey. 

She's headed to NCAA Division III Nichols in Massachusetts next year. 

"It's such a big accomplishment for me," she said. "I guess, I mean, I always wanted to do it. But to be the first, it just makes it that much sweeter." 

It's been an equally sweet season for the RoughRiders' boys' high school team. They qualified for the first time for the Midwest High School Hockey League playoffs, playing Quad Cities in a league tournament quarterfinal Friday afternoon in Ames. 

The RoughRiders took a 17-10-2 record into that game, a remarkable turnaround for a group that won just two games last season. 

"Obviously, this is a good feat, not only for the kids, but for the organization as a whole," said second-year head coach Chad Horner. "We went from two wins to 17 this year. That was our team goal. I think we had eight or nine close games last season that we either tied or lost in overtime. 

"So we were competing last year. This year, I think it was a big goal not just to compete, but to start winning." 

Quin Kavanaugh leads the team with 20 goals, one of three RoughRiders selected to play in the league all-star game next weekend in Ames. The others are goaltender Alex Wisnousky and forward Tyler Trier. 

"They've put in a lot of hard work," Horner said. "It's great as an organization to finally get to that plateau where opposing teams are no longer saying that we're an easy win."