Reinke relishes 2nd chance to represent his country

CEDAR RAPIDS - His jersey is hanging on his bedroom wall back home in Minnesota. The gold medal is there, too.

Mitch Reinke of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders was a member of a United States team that swept its way through the World Junior ‘A' Challenge international hockey tournament last year in Canada. He'll have that opportunity again in December and relishes it.

'Anytime you wear the red, white and blue, it is a huge honor,” Reinke said. 'Just to put on that sweater, it is special each and every time.”

Reinke is one of 20 players from the United States Hockey League that were picked for the U.S. team. He'll be joined by RoughRiders teammates Cal Burke, Jack Ahcan and Ross Colton.

Reinke and Sioux City Musketeers defenseman Ryan Zuhlsdorf are the two returnees from last year. Fargo Force head coach Cary Eades will lead the squad.

This year's Challenge is Dec. 13-19 at Whitby, Ontario.

'For me, that was probably my most memborable hockey moment,” Reinke said of a 3-2 overtime win in the gold-medal game last year against Denmark. 'I really tried to take it all in. Just putting on the red, white and blue is unbelievable. I look forward to doing it again.”

The RoughRiders will be without their Challenge four for, ironically, four games. It's a particularly tough hit because Reinke, Colton and Burke are the team's tri-captains.

Colton leads the RoughRiders with 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 14 games. Ahcan has four goals and seven assists in 14 games, Burke a goal and eight assists in 14 games and Reinke five assists in 14 games.

Reinke said the quartet will leave for Canada Dec. 8. Cedar Rapids also had four players participate in the Challenge last year: Reinke, Andrew Oglivie, Charlie Curti and Adam Gaudette.

The RoughRiders play Friday night at Madison and Saturday night at Bloomington. They have an 8-5-1 record, their 17 standings points placing them in third place in the USHL's Eastern Conference.

Dubuque leads the way with 20 points, with Green Bay second with 19. Bloomington also has 17 standings points, but Cedar Rapids has two games in hand on the Thunder.

'They're going to be all right when we're gone,” Reinke said.

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