RoughRiders to participate in USHL Atlantic Challenge

The United States Hockey League announced Friday that the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are among six league clubs that will participate in the preseason USHL Atlantic Challenge in New York and New Jersey.

The event is Sept. 6-8 and is being billed as "the largest exhibition of USHL talent outside of the league's Midwest base in its 11-year history as USA Hockey's only Tier I junior league."

USHL games and an invitational tournament of some of the region's top 14-under, 16-under and 18-under junior teams will take place in Hackensack. N.J. Other USHL teams participating are the Muskegon Lumberjacks, Youngstown Phantoms, Sioux City Musketeers, Sioux Falls Stampede and Waterloo Black Hawks.

"The Challenge provides a unique opportunity for players, parents, and fans on the East Coast to see and experience the USHL brand in person," said USHL President and Commissioner Skip Prince, in a press release.  "It takes seeing the size, speed, and skill of our players,  more and more of whom are coming from the Atlantic and Northeast region…the quality of our coaches…and the intensity of the game at this level to understand just how good junior hockey in America can be.”

RoughRiders head coach/general manager Mark Carlson is a New Jersey native.