Goaltender Tirone expected to depart RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's a little more than a week until the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders open their United States Hockey League season, and they're suddenly looking for a number one goaltender.

Danny Tirone is expected to enroll at the University of New Hampshire for its second semester in January and play for the Wildcats, his timetable for college hockey accelerated because of the recent arrest and indefinite suspension of three-year starter Casey DeSmith for domestic assault and resisting arrest. New Hampshire has two other goalies on its roster, one a freshman and another who has a little over six minutes of college hockey experience.

Tirone finished second in the USHL last season with 26 victories, compiling a 26-13-2 record, 2.63 goals against average and .917 save percentage in 44 games. He could play for the RoughRiders until he departs for college, but it is believed the club will trade him to a team in another junior league so he can play regularly to prepare for UNH and the Riders can develop a top goalie.

Rookie Ben Blacker, a Western Michigan commit, has played the majority of the preseason and is expected to get most of the early regular-season time in net. Cedar Rapids swung a trade Tuesday with the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks for affiliate-list goaltender Ryan Larkin, a Miami (Ohio) commit.

The RoughRiders conclude their preseason schedule with a home game Friday night against Waterloo and open the regular season Saturday, Sept. 27, at home against Dubuque.

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