RoughRiders rebounded in 2013-14

DUBUQUE – Rebound is a key term in hockey, one that refers to a shot that glances off the goaltender and is potentially available to any player.

It also described the 2013-14 season for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

'You always want to have good teams, make the playoffs and all those kinds of things,' RoughRiders Coach/General Manager Mark Carlson said after his team's season ended Saturday night with a 7-3 loss to Dubuque in Game 4 of the USHL Eastern Conference semifinals. 'That's what we were focused on, having a winning season with these guys. If other people felt like this was a rebound season, that's fine. We just want to do the best job that we can.'

The RoughRiders finished the regular season with a 35-21-4 record and second-place finish in the division. Their 74 standings points were 15 more than last season and eight more than in 2011-12.

They missed the playoffs in 2012-13 for the first time since the club's inaugural 1999-2000 season. They didn't beat Dubuque, dropping the series, 3-1, but did win a game.

Two of the three losses were by a goal.

'I'm tremendously proud of every guy and what we were able to accomplish,' said goaltender Danny Tirone. 'We obviously wanted more, but we're proud of what we did. Proud that no matter what the score was there (Saturday), we kept coming back at them. That showed our character.'

'We've been through a lot, but it's always disappointing to end like this,' said defenseman Clark Kuster.'I wouldn't say this season was successful, you know what I mean? It wasn't as good as we wanted it to be. We accomplished a lot considering what happened last year. Making the playoffs, everyone on our team got our first playoff win. But, still, in the end, it hurts.'

It would have been nice to see what the RoughRiders could have accomplished in the postseason had they had their roster intact. Defenseman Ivan Provorov bolted late in the regular season to return to Russia, with the RoughRiders unable to replace him because the USHL's roster freeze was in affect.

Important second-year forward Judd Peterson dealt with a right high-ankle sprain that forced him to miss several regular-season games, then suffered a left high-ankle sprain in Game 1 that kept him out the rest of the series. Forward Mitch Maloney, one of a handful of players Carlson brought in midseason that brought juice to a lifeless team, was hit in the back of the head with a deflected puck late in the regular season, resulting in a concussion that denied him the playoffs.

Forward Carlos Fornaris was suspended for the playoffs for a violation of team rules. The manpower shortage was so bad that affiliate roster player Erik Foley was brought in from his prep school to help out in Games 3 and 4.

'We've got to battle adversity, you can't make excuses,' Carlson said. 'But at the same time, you've got to be realistic. You look at all the guys that were out, that was a lot of guys out.'

So now the focus turns to building a 2014-15 team. The first phase of the USHL Draft is May 5, with the second phase a day later.

It'll be interesting to see which players return from this team. That's something Carlson wasn't sure about Saturday, with some guys' statuses in the air.

Kuster, for instance, has committed to St. Cloud State but doesn't know for certain if he'll head there for 2014-15 or return to Cedar Rapids one more season. He said Saturday night he's guessing he'll be back.

Goaltender should be a strength with Tirone, who had a superb season, coming back for one more year.

'You always want to go as far as you can, always think you can win a championship. No doubt about that,' said Carlson, the only Coach/GM the RoughRiders have had in their 15-year existence. 'But at the same time, the way this group came together and what it accomplished, learning a lot of life lessons along the way, battling adversity, even here in the playoffs with missing guys, I'm extremely proud of them. For me, when you look back at the history of the organization, I think this ended up being a real, real special team.'

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Possible returning players

Defense - Logan Von Ruden, Charlie Curti, Mark Auk, Clark Kuster. Forwards - Dylan McLaughlin, Brennan Sanford, Andrew Gaus, Nick Master, Carlos Fornaris, Erik Foley, Jason Kalinowski, Alec Marsh, Andrew Oglevie, Kevin Shand, Freddy Tiffels. Goalies - Chris Birdsall, Danny Tirone.