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Team Record Six RoughRiders Ranked by NHL Central Scouting

Team Record Six RoughRiders Ranked by NHL Central Scouting

July 25, 2005- The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders’ Justin Abdelkader, Phil Axtell, Ray Kaunisto, Alec Martinez, Matt Vokes, and Gary Steffes have all made the National Hockey League Central Scouting Service’s final rankings of players eligible for Saturday’s 2005 NHL Draft. In addition, former RoughRider goaltender Joe Fallon, now a standout at the University of Vermont, also cracked the Central Scouting rankings. The CSS rankings were released last Friday. “This is a great tribute to all of these young men, their skills and the tremendous efforts they’ve made to improve themselves as players,” said RoughRiders Coach and General Manager Mark Carlson. “It also says an awful lot about how our organization is viewed throughout the sport.” Abdelkader, an 18-year old forward, ranks twenty-fifth among draft-eligible North American skaters and is the top-rated United States Hockey League skater in the current CSS rankings. A total of 32 USHL players made the list and no team in the league had more players ranked than the Riders. Abdelkader is ranked higher by Central Scouting than any Rider skater has been in the team’s six year history. The Muskegon, Michigan, native scored a club record-tying 27 goals and totaled 52 points in 60 games while helping the RoughRiders to the USHL Clark Cup title last season. Abdelkader will begin his college career at Michigan State in the fall. Axtell, another 18-year old forward, was ranked eighty-ninth among North American skaters. Axtell missed more than half of the 2003-04 regular season due to injuries but still managed to notch six goals and 11 points in 26 games. The New Windsor, Maryland, product also scored a pair of crucial playoff goals in 11 postseason games and will return to the Riders this season. The 6’ 5½”, 240-pound Axtell will play his college hockey at Michigan Tech beginning in 2006-07. The Riders selected Kaunisto in the first round of May’s USHL entry draft with the tenth overall choice. The Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, native, was a North American Hockey League All-Rookie Team selection at forward while playing for the Soo Indians last season. Kaunisto (20-20-40) tied for the Indians team lead in goals and was also the club’s second leading point scorer. The 18-year old has already committed to play his college hockey at Northern Michigan. Martinez, an 18-year old defenseman, is the one hundred thirty-fifth ranked North American skater. Bound for Miami of Ohio this fall, Martinez (10-11-21) was fifth among USHL blueliners in goals last season. Martinez, who hails from Rochester, Michigan, was the second highest rated USHL defenseman on the Central Scouting list. This marks the second straight year that Vokes, 19, has made the final Central Scouting rankings. The Brown University-bound forward is the one hundred ninety-third rated North American skater on the current list. Vokes’s name returns to the rankings after he enjoyed a second straight stellar season in Cedar Rapids. The Auburn, Massachusetts, native joined Abdelkader in matching the RoughRider record with 27 goals last year. Vokes recorded a total of 52 points in 58 regular season games in 2004-05. He was even more prolific in the postseason, ringing up six goals and 13 points in 11 playoff games. Vokes is among the Riders’ all-time career leaders in nearly every statistical category. He ranks second in goals (44), ranks fourth in points (90), is tied for sixth in assists (46), ranks ninth in games played (113) and shares a club record with 16 career power play goals. Vokes was not taken in last year’s draft after being rated one hundred twentieth among North American skaters in the final 2004 rankings. Forward Gary Steffes, 18, is the fifth member of the Riders’ 2004-05 title winning team to merit a spot on Central Scouting’s list. Steffes is ranked two hundred fourth among North American skaters after registering one goal and ten points in 42 regular season games last year. The Grand Blanc, Michigan, native tripled his regular season goal output by scoring three times in ten playoff games. Steffes will return to the Riders this season before joining Martinez at Miami of Ohio in 2006-07. Fallon makes the pre-draft rankings for the second year running after a superb freshman season at Vermont. Fallon is rated fifteenth (up from twentieth last year) among eligible North American goaltenders. The 20-year old went 17-10-4 with a 1.96 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and five shutouts for the Catamounts last season. Fallon broke school records for lowest goals against average and most shutouts and posted the second best save percentage in UVM history. For his efforts, Fallon was named Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and New England Rookie of the Year and was selected to the US College Hockey Online and Insidecollegehockey.com All-Rookie Teams as well as the ECAC All-Rookie Team. Fallon spent two standout seasons with the RoughRiders before heading to Vermont. In 84 career games as a Rider, Fallon went 45-28-8 with a 2.66 goals against average, a .909 save percentage and six shutouts. In 2004-05- his final junior campaign- Fallon posted some of the best goaltending numbers in the USHL, going 25-13-2 while turning in a 2.73 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and four shutouts. Two RoughRiders- defenseman Derek Peltier and forward Nate Perkovich- were chosen in last year’s NHL draft. The Colorado Avalanche selected Peltier in the sixth round with the one hundred eighty-fourth overall choice, while Perkovich was taken by the New Jersey Devils in the eighth round with two hundred fiftieth overall pick. A total of five RoughRiders have been drafted since the team arrived in Cedar Rapids six years ago: Peltier, Perkovich, P.J. Atherton (Tampa Bay, 2002), Bobby Goepfert (Pittsburgh, 2002) and Dave Moss (Calgary, 2001) The RoughRiders will open the 2005-06 season on September 24 when they meet the Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Nebraska. The Riders will open on home ice on Saturday, October 8 when they play host to the Green Bay Gamblers at 7:05PM. 2005-06 RoughRiders season tickets are currently available through the Riders’ business office (247-0340). Fans who pay for season tickets in full before August 31 will receive a discount in addition to a host of other benefits available exclusively to season ticket holders. The RoughRiders last season won the first Clark Cup (playoff) title in team history and also claimed a share of the Anderson Cup (regular season) title for the first time ever. The Riders went 42-13-5 last season, the best record in team history.

Posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 (Archive on Tuesday, July 26, 2005)

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