The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders today released their 2007-08 schedule. The Riders will open the 60-game regular season on the road on Friday, October 5 against the Chicago Steel. One night later the Riders will return to Cedar Rapids to play their home opener against the Indiana Ice at 7:05PM.
The home opener is the first of 27 weekend home games for the Riders. The Riders will play 15 Saturday games at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena and 12 Friday contests on home ice. All 30 Rider home games will face off at 7:05PM.
Beginning with the home opener, the Riders will be in action at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena on six of the first seven Saturday nights of the season. The Riders will play on the road each of the first four Friday evenings of the campaign.
The defending Clark Cup champion Sioux Falls Stampede will visit Cedar Rapids for the first time on Saturday, December 7.
The 2007-08 United States Hockey League season will end one week earlier than the 2006-07 campaign. The Riders’ schedule will conclude on Saturday, April 5 with a visit to the arch rival Waterloo Black Hawks.
The Riders will kick off their eight game season series against Waterloo at home on November 2. That match-up will be the first between the I-380 rivals since the Black Hawks eliminated the Riders in the second 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 22, before hosting the Hawks the following evening. The Hawks will make the trip to Cedar Rapids again on Saturday night, December 8. The rivals will get together to bring the curtain down on 2007 with a New Year’s Eve battle at Young Arena. Waterloo will visit Cedar Rapids for the final time on Friday, January 4. The Riders will be back in Waterloo on Friday, February 29 and again for the April 5 regular season finale.
While they will collide with the Black Hawks on eight occasions, the Riders will play each of their other four East Division rivals- Chicago, Green Bay, Indiana and Ohio- seven times. The Riders will face the six clubs in the West Division (Des Moines, Lincoln, Omaha, Sioux City, Sioux Falls and Tri-City) four times each.
Other schedule highlights:
• The Riders’ October 6 home opener against Indiana will be a rematch of a postseason meeting that saw the Ice edge the Riders last spring.
• On Saturday, November 10 the Riders will host Ohio Junior Blue Jackets- the first meeting between the two teams since the Riders swept the Blue Jackets in the opening round of the 2007 playoffs.
• The RoughRiders will play 11 games in February, making it the club’s busiest month. The Riders will play ten games in November, January and March, eight in October and December and three in April.
• The RoughRiders will be in action at home on the first three Fridays and first three Saturdays of November. The six-game home stand is the Riders’ longest of the season.
• The Riders will twice play four straight road games. The first stretch of four straight away games will wrap around the league’s holiday break from December 15 through December 31. The Riders will again hit the road for four in a row February 1 through February 9.
• The Riders will play three games in three nights just once this season, when they follow up their November 22-23 home-and-home with Waterloo with a visit to Indiana on Saturday, November 24.
• The Riders will play one matinee date this season, a February 2 game in Columbus against the Junior Blue Jackets that will face off at 12:05PM.
• The USHL’s holiday break will last 12 days. After winding up their pre-Christmas schedule by visiting the Sioux Falls Stampede on Saturday, December 15 the Riders will not return to action until they head to Columbus for a two game series against the Junior Blue Jackets December 28 and 29.
The 2007-08 season will be the Riders' ninth in Cedar Rapids. 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.