RoughRiders Announce 2008-09 Schedule
Published on July 3, 2008 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Cedar Rapids RoughRiders News Release
Cedar Rapids, Iowa- The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders today released their 2008-09 schedule. The Riders will open their tenth anniversary season on the road on Saturday, October 4 against the Indiana Ice. After another road game on Friday, October 10 against the Chicago Steel, the Riders will return to Cedar Rapids one night later to play their home opener against the arch rival Waterloo Black Hawks at 7:05PM. The home opener is the first of 26 weekend home games for the Riders. The Riders will play 14 Saturday night games at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, ten Friday evening contests on home ice and two Sunday home games. With the exception of the two Sunday games, all Rider home games will face off at 7:05PM. The Sunday tilts will start at 5:05PM. The Riders will be on the road for five of their first six games and 11 of their first 16. The balance of the schedule will shift considerably beginning the night after Thanksgiving- November 28- when the Riders kick off a stretch that will see them play 12 of 15 games at home with a battle against the Black Hawks at the ice arena. Starting with a November 29 date with the Des Moines Buccaneers, the Riders will take to the ice at home on six straight Saturday nights and eight of nine Saturdays through the end of January. The home opener is the first of seven meetings between the Riders and Black Hawks. That match-up will also be the first between the I-380 rivals since the Black Hawks eliminated the Riders in the first round of last spring's Clark Cup playoffs. The two clubs will again this season face off in a Thanksgiving week home-and-home series. The Riders will visit Waterloo on Thanksgiving night, November 27, before hosting the Hawks the following evening. The Hawks will make the trip to Cedar Rapids again on Saturday night, January 10. The two teams will also spend Valentine's evening together as they meet in Waterloo on Saturday night, February 14. The Hawks will make their final visit of the regular season to Cedar Rapids on Saturday, March 7. The Riders will head to Waterloo to wrap up the campaign against the Black Hawks on Saturday night, April 4. The defending Clark Cup champion Omaha Lancers will visit Cedar Rapids for the first time on Saturday, October 25. The Riders will meet the league's newest team, the expansion Fargo Force, for the first time on Saturday, November 8 in Fargo. The Force will make its first visit to the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena on Saturday, December 13. The entry of the Force keeps the league at 12 teams after the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets ceased operations at the end of last season. With the arrival of the Force in the West Division, the Des Moines Buccaneers have moved back to the East Division after spending the last two seasons in the west. The Riders will collide with the Black Hawks and three of their four other East Division rivals- Chicago, Des Moines and Indiana- seven times. They will meet the Green Bay Gamblers eight times. The Riders will face the six clubs in the West Division (Fargo, Lincoln, Omaha, Sioux City, Sioux Falls and Tri-City) four times each. Other schedule highlights:
- This marks the second straight year and the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Riders will open on the road.
- The RoughRiders will play 12 games in January, making it the club's busiest month. The Riders will play ten games in November, February and March, eight in October and December and two in April.
- The RoughRiders will enjoy their longest homestand of the season when they play five straight games in Cedar Rapids between January 2 and January 13.
- The Riders will play a season-high five road games in a row from February 21 through March 6.
- The Riders will play three games in three nights on four separate occasions: October 24-26, November 27-29, December 18-20 and January 23-25.
- On February 28 the RoughRiders will take on the Indiana Ice at Conseco Fieldhouse, the 18,000-seat home of the National Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers. This marks the third straight year the Riders will take to the ice at Conseco, where Indiana plays a few times each season. The Ice plays the bulk of its home games at Pepsi Coliseum.
- The USHL's holiday break will last 10 days. After winding up their pre-Christmas schedule by hosting Lincoln on Saturday, December 20 the Riders will not return to action until they head to Green Bay for a New Year's Eve meeting with the Gamblers.
2008-09 season tickets are currently available through the RoughRiders' business office (247-0340). Fans who pay for season tickets in full before August 15 will receive a significant discount in addition to a host of other benefits available exclusively to season ticket holders. Single game tickets will go on sale on a date to be determined in September.
United States Hockey League Stories from July 3, 2008
- Stampede schedule - Sioux Falls Stampede
- RoughRiders Announce 2008-09 Schedule - Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
- Storm Release 2008-2009 Schedule - Tri-City Storm
- Fargo Force Releases 2008-09 Hockey Schedule - Fargo Force
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