Peanut Butter Hjelle time again for Riders

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's Peanut Butter Hjelle Time again at The Stable.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders concluded their annual tryout camp Sunday. The two goaltenders picked for the initial 2010-11 roster have very familiar names.

Cody Campbell was a given. He shined after being acquired in a trade last midseason from Fargo.

The other netminder is Brady Hjelle. Yeah, that Brady Hjelle.

The 20-year-old from International Falls, Minn., played for the Riders in 2007-08 before taking off for the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He has decided to transfer schools, with another season in Cedar Rapids coming first.

“I wasn't happy at Duluth. That's really all I can say about that,” Hjelle said, shortly after Sunday afternoon's camp all-star game. “So I called Coach and talked to him and asked him if it would be all right if I came back and tried out. We'll see how the list goes here.”

Hjelle said he was genuinely concerned about making “the list.” Coach Mark Carlson posts the names of players the club intends to keep on a wall in the main locker room hallway at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Considering he hadn't been on the ice since the end of Duluth's season in February, Hjelle said he felt rusty.

“Oh, I'm worried. Just like everyone else,” he said. “Just like any other player, there are never guarantees anywhere you go. Hopefully it'll go off of how I played when I was (originally) here. This wasn't my best weekend by any means.”

Hjelle originally was slated to play the 2008-09 season with the RoughRiders but instead got coaxed into heading to Duluth to be the primary backup to former RoughRider Alex Stalock, who just finished a terrific rookie pro season for the San Jose Sharks' top AHL farm club in Worcester, Mass.

Hjelle split Duluth's starting goalie duties last season with fellow sophomore Kenny Reiter. But Reiter started 16 of Duluth's final 20 games, and Hjelle saw the handwriting on the wall.

“It's weird being back, but it's nice,” he said. “If I had to do it all over again, I would have stayed here and played a second year ... But I didn't. It is what it is.”

All 13 guys who ended last season with the Riders and could return to the team made “the list.” Injuries prevented forwards Stu Wilson and Sam Warning from participating in camp, and forwards Michael Parks and Cason Hohmann did not play Sunday.

The RoughRiders also placed six other players on an affiliate list. There are still no guarantees for the camp survivors, considering the

USHL has deadlines throughout the summer in which rosters are gradually pared.