LaRocque finally gets his chance with RoughRiders

CEDAR RAPIDS - Everyone wants to play. It's no fun to just sit around and do nothing but practice.

Goaltender Zach LaRocque has dressed for every Cedar Rapids RoughRiders game since he arrived from a lower-level team in Colorado a week before Halloween. But it took until a month before Christmas for him to finally get a start.

LaRocque stopped 38 of 41 shots and picked up a shootout win at Muskegon in the Riders' final game before the holiday break. Cedar Rapids returns to action Wednesday night at home against Bloomington (7:05 opening faceoff).

'It was an awesome experience, fun to be there,” LaRocque said. 'But it was just like another game. I had to keep my nerves down, I couldn't be too nervous, thinking about that it was my first junior game and everything. Just played it like it was a regular game, had fun with it, and I ended up doing really well. It was a good moment for me.”

A long-awaited moment for the 18-year-old Arvada, Colo., resident. He spent a month this fall with the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede but never played in a game, returning to the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders (a Tier I, AAA-level club affiliated with and owned by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders).

Second-year goalie Ryan Larkin came down with a hip injury that required surgery in October. C.R. RoughRiders Coach/General Manager Mark Carlson searched around and eventually called upon LaRocque to take Larkin's spot.

It's a tough and significant adjustment from Tier I AAA to the best junior league in America, and Carlson took it slow with LaRocque. Ben Blacker made 17 consecutive goaltending starts until LaRocque finally got the call last week.

'It's tough, especially being a starter my whole life and then coming here,” LaRocque said. 'It's just the juniors process. You have to come in, get used to the team, get used to the pace, grind your way through. Coach will give you a chance, eventually. You've just got to stay positive on the team and everything like that. Your time will come.”

'It's all how you approach it,” Carlson said. 'He came here and worked hard. He got an opportunity and made the most of it. That's how all of our guys need to approach it.”

LaRocque has a hockey name, for sure, and good size at 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds. He said he has developed a solid rapport with Blacker, who has become a 'really good friend” who has supported him well since he joined the club.

Blacker is expected to get the start Wednesday night for the RoughRiders (16-7-2, 34 standings points), who are in second place in the USHL's Eastern Conference, two points behind first-place Dubuque. Cedar Rapids also plays Thursday night at Waterloo and Saturday at Green Bay, meaning you might see LaRocque again at some point this week.

'It was something where I was in the right place at the right time,” LaRocque said. 'The play is a lot faster, the shots are coming harder, the guys are smarter, there's a lot more creativity at this. You've just got to be ready all the time.

'In Triple-A, you could kind of tell when things were slowing down. Here, you've got to be ready all the time. Shots are coming faster, everyone skates faster, situations happen faster. Another thing, I'd say, is your defense is better, so you are communicating with them, seeing how situations develop. That part is actually easier, because some guys in Triple-A weren't really sure what was going on.”

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