USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

RoughRiders Announce 2009-10 Schedule

Published on July 9, 2009 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Cedar Rapids RoughRiders News Release


Cedar Rapids, Iowa- The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders today released their 60-game 2009-10 regular season schedule. The RoughRiders will open their eleventh United States Hockey League season on the road on Saturday, October 3 against the Des Moines Buccaneers. The Riders will play each of their first four regular season games on the road before opening on home ice on Saturday, October 17 at 7:00PM against the Chicago Steel.

The home opener is the first of 27 weekend home games for the RoughRiders. The Riders will play 14 Saturday night games at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, nine Friday evening contests on home ice and four Sunday home games. With the exception of the four Sunday games, all Rider home games will face off at 7:00PM. The Sunday tilts will start at 4:00PM.

The Riders' second home game- on Saturday, October 24- will be their first meeting of the season with one of the league's two new entries, the United States National Team Development Program. The USNTDP, USA Hockey's Ann Arbor, Michigan-based program of 46 select 17 and 18-year-olds, will field "Team USA" with a varying roster based upon the program's international and collegiate schedule. Team USA returns to the USHL after having previously played full seasons in the league in 1998-99 and 1999-2000. Team USA will join the Riders in the East Division as will the expansion Youngstown Phantoms. The RoughRiders and Phantoms will collide for the first time on New Year's Eve in Cedar Rapids. The Riders will wait until the final weekend of the regular season before making their first ever trip to Youngstown. Cedar Rapids will close out the campaign with road games against the Phantoms on Friday, April 2 and Saturday, April 3.

The RoughRiders will first lock horns with the arch rival Waterloo Black Hawks just three games into the season when Cedar Rapids travels north to Young Arena on Saturday, October 10. The Riders will visit Waterloo a second time on Thursday, November 26 for the traditional Thanksgiving night meeting between the two clubs before hosting the Hawks for the first time on Saturday, December 12. The two teams will not see each other again until Waterloo makes its second and final trip of the regular season to the Stable on Saturday, March 20. The five-game season series concludes one week later with a match-up in Waterloo.

The RoughRiders will face the Indiana Ice, who knocked out the Riders on the way to winning the Clark Cup title last spring, for the first time on Wednesday, November 18 in Indianapolis. On Friday, November 27, the Ice will return to the Stable for the first time since edging the Riders in the fifth and deciding game of last spring's playoff series between the two teams.

With the arrival of the Phantoms and Team USA, the league expands to 14 teams and the Des Moines Buccaneers shift from the East Division to the West. The Riders will meet five of their six East Division rivals- Waterloo, Indiana, Youngstown, Team USA and the Chicago Steel- five times each and will square off with the Green Bay Gamblers seven times. The Riders take on the seven clubs in the West Division (Des Moines, Fargo, Lincoln, Omaha, Sioux City, Sioux Falls and Tri-City) four times each.

Check out the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from July 9, 2009


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