“Old timers” Wilson and Zajac ready for 3rd seasons in C.R.

CEDAR RAPIDS - His heart is in Winnipeg. With the Winnipeg Jets, to be exact.

Nolan Zajac's a Western Canadian kid who is pumped beyond belief for the NHL's return this season to his hometown. His brother, Travis, might play for the New Jersey Devils, but he's a Jets guy all the way.

"The new jerseys are cool," Zajac said. "I don't even think they come out until like November. I don't want to order one, yet, because I don't want to wait."

Speaking of waiting, Zajac has had to do that when it comes to his college hockey career. He committed over the summer to the University of Denver, where his father, Tom, played.

Before he suits up for the Pioneers, he'll play another season in the United States Hockey League with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. It'll be his third.

Not a lot of guys play three years of junior hockey, but that's the case for Zajac and Riders teammate Stu Wilson. They don't look at it as a negative, looking at it as a chance to improve their games some more.

"I want to get better at everything," Zajac said. "Overall, I want to improve my shot, my skating. Feel better defensively."

"Coming back for a third year, you've seen a lot of the situations before," said Wilson, who has committed to Yale. "You kind of know what to expect, I guess, a little bit. You can help out some of the youngers guys and tell them what to expect. It's another year of hockey, another year to get better. I think having this extra year helps me out going into college. It'll help me make an impact right away."

That's the way Riders Coach Mark Carlson wants all of his players to think of it. He sees no reason for a kid to move on to college hockey if he's just going to be a fourth-liner and not get much ice time.

It's better to come back to the USHL, even if it's for a third year.

"I think it's great when that happens," Carlson said. "One year we had Shane Lovdahl and Zach Miskovic (2004-05) ... Those two were two of the best players and most solid guys we've had here. I think we see the same thing with Stu and Nolan this year."

Carlson said he doesn't worry at all about guys coasting through their third years, particularly Zajac and Wilson. They love the game and come from hockey families, with Wilson's father, Wayne, the head coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Wilson will likely be selected captain of the RoughRiders, with Zajac having a chance to wear a "letter" as well.

"I think there are zero issue with motivation," Carlson said. "We didn't have any of those issues with Lovie and Misky when they were here. With Stu and Nolan, they are real motivated guys, hungry guys. There are only positives with this. They've been in the rinks, been through all the positives, weight lifting sessions. They've been through some ups and downs. So there's nothing but positives there with those situations."

"You know, we were friends like from right away that first year," Wilson said. "It's funny that he's one of the guys that stuck around all this time with me here. Obviously you're friends with everybody on the team, but me and him kind of clicked right away. It's still the same."