Recipe for Success
Only a few years old, the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders are poised for a promising future By Paul Willis
T
he Rocky Mountain RoughRiders no longer are the new kids on the block in the Colo-
rado youth hockey circles, but the AAA organi- zation isn’t quite a recognized power. The good thing is, the third-year RoughRid-
ers are drifting further away from the former and trending towards the latter. Based in Westminster with a
home rink of the Promenade, the RoughRiders joined the Tier I Elite League this past season after spend- ing their first year as an indepen- dent AAA squad and their second in the North American Prospects Hockey League (PHL). While the competition was no-
ticeably tougher in the Elite League, so too was the RoughRiders’ talent level. “We’ve started to talk about be-
ing a legitimate program and not just a recognized program,” said Matt Huckins, who coaches the 14U squad. The RoughRiders, who also boast
13U, 15U, 16U and 18U teams, are an affiliate of Cedar Rapids, Io- wa’s United States Hockey League (USHL) squad of the same nick- name. Everything Rocky Mountain does is gleaned from the Cedar Rapids program, from the black- and-green replica uniforms they proudly don to their philosophies on the ice. Now comes trying to replicate
the success. In their first winter in the Tier
I Elite League, the 18U and 16U RoughRiders proved competitive; they were in every game, winning and losing a lot of tightly contested one-goal contests. 18U forwards Matthew Anders (15 goals,
around since the program was unearthed and will be taking the ice for their fourth season in the fall. Doug Smail coaches the 15U team; Nils Satterstrom leads the 16U squad. “A lot of people have said we’ve progressed
fairly quickly, with us having moved from an independent program to arguably the top AAA
11 16U and 18U teams have also moved on, including goaltender Joakim Jutras to the Texas Tornado of the NAHL. “I think the biggest thing we’re doing is de-
veloping players,” Huckins said. “I think what we’re able to do is take a player with a nice skill set or an athlete with good hockey sense and develop him.” The program’s affiliation with
Cedar Rapids doesn’t mean advanc- ing RoughRiders AAA players will land there (although it’s a possibil- ity). The agreement is nonbinding and players can sign with which- ever USHL program - or any junior team - they choose. What the affiliation means is
that Cedar Rapids will help in the development of players by passing along their on- and off-ice mantras. For instance, Cedar Rapids coach Mark Carlson employs a style that caters to playmakers rather than to a grind-it-out, dump-and- chase-type of game. The hope is to eventually play in
a building that mimics The Stable in Cedar Rapids, which might be a possibility when the vast Ice Ranch at Boulder is completed. While The Promenade is the
RoughRiders’ de facto home base and where Robinson keeps an of- fice, the teams also play out of the Apex in Arvada and Boulder Valley Ice (which soon will be demolished at the site of the Ice Ranch). Rather than viewing Colorado’s
Behind sound leadership and an experienced coaching staff, the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders have created a winning environment in only three seasons of existence.
23 assists) and Rudy Junda (15 goals, 11 as- sists) helped the squad acclimate to the higher level of competition, as did 16U forward Caleb Pola, who tallied 22 goals. “We’ve come a long ways, but I think we still
have a long ways to go as far as being estab- lished,” RoughRiders 18U coach Nick Larson said. “We have a lot of things we want to ac- complish and we really believe in our coaching staff, and our goal is to get a little bit better every single year.” Thanks to the promise in the players’ talent
level, the younger squads continue to improve. The 13U team, coached by Jamie O’Leary, was in its first season this winter while Huckins’ 14U squad was in its second. The 14U squad won the PHL championship in its division its first season. The remaining three teams all have been
6
league in the country in three years,” RoughRid- ers director of hockey operations Derek Rob- inson said. “I don’t know if we’ve exceeded expectations, but we’re definitely where we en- visioned we’d be.” The RoughRiders already have moved 14
players on to higher levels of hockey over their first two years of existence and will be adding several more to junior rosters this coming sea- son.
Defenseman Bradley Shumway, who
was a member of the 2009-10 18U team and made two stops in the North American Hockey League (Tier II Junior A) before landing with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, has committed to the Rochester Institute of Technology, while Shumway’s teammate with the RoughRiders, goaltender Robert Nichols, recently commit- ted to Connecticut. A large handful of members from the 2010-
additional AAA programs with dis- dain, the RoughRiders have learned what has worked for those programs and understand what items and qualities can be incorporated into building their own powerhouse. One of them is patience.
“Like I said, we’re getting bet-
ter every year, but it’s going to take us a few years,” Larson said. “We’re going to take our lumps and earn our stripes, but I really think we’re headed in the right direction.” In the next few seasons, another positive
for the program will naturally unfold. Mem- bers of the 18U squad will have played in the RoughRiders system since their days in 13U, an option not yet available with the operation only three seasons in the making. Currently, the RoughRiders are uncertain
as to whether they’ll expand from their core of five teams. “That’s something we’ll look at down the
road,” Robinson said. “We’re not sure at this point. Next year, we’re going to have our same five teams. “It’s hard to say because we like where we’re
at, but adding some younger teams is some- thing we might eventually consider.”
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