Riders' Wilsondoes the intangibles that lead to wins

CEDAR RAPIDS - Stu Wilson won't light up the scoreboard - at least not yet in his junior hockey career.

He won't exquisitely dangle with the puck or make a no-look, cross-ice pass to a teammate. He won't blast a snapshot that knocks the goaltender into the net.

He's a glue guy, who does all the intangible things to help the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders win games. And he's cool with that.

“To me, it really doesn't matter. I'll chip in when I can. At the end of the day, I'll just do what I can,” the second-year forward said. “There are a lot of different roles, and you just kind of accept whatever you have. Anything can help, so you just try to do what it takes, I guess.”

If that means getting his stick in the passing lane and deflecting a puck, that's great. If it means sacrificing his body to block a shot, so be it.

Did the team win that night? That's what the 19-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., cares about.

The RoughRiders play tonight at Tri-City and Saturday night at Lincoln.

“He's a real smart player on the ice,” RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said. “He's a team-first guy, and that's the biggest compliment, I think, you can give anybody. To call them a team-first guy.

“He really understands the game. He's another guy of ours whose best days are ahead. He's certainly playing well now, but he's just going to keep getting better and better.”

Wilson's high hockey IQ comes from being a coach's son. Wayne Wilson is head coach at Rochester Institute of Technology, a Cinderella entry in last year's NCAA Frozen Four.

Being around the rink his entire life, going to all his dad's practices helped Wilson learn the intricacies of the game.

“I think that's definitely helped, yeah,” Wilson said. “I've been watching hockey forever. At the same time, I've learned so much here. I guess it's a mixture of the two that has kind of helped.”

Wilson has five goals and 10 points in 27 games, already surpassing his totals of a year ago. He'll head to Yale to play college hockey, likely in two years.

But there are a lot of games to play with the RoughRiders first. A lot of plays to make that the casual fan might not notice.

“That's a real honor,” Wilson said, when told of Carlson's team-first comment. “He's never said that to my face, so I appreciate that. I don't know, I guess that means just doing whatever you can to help out.”