Cedar Rapids RoughRiders forward Nick Oddo has committed to the University of Nebraska-Omaha, the RoughRiders announced today. Oddo is set to begin his college career in the fall of 2009.

“This is certainly great news for Nick, who’s done a good job of adapting to our league this season,” said RoughRiders Coach and General Manager Mark Carlson. “He’s a good young player who’s worked hard to improve.”

Oddo, 17, has scored eight goals and totaled 13 points in 22 games this season while posting a plus/minus rating of +10. The Omaha native ranks second among first year Riders in point scoring.

Oddo joined the Riders after playing for Kansas City’s Russell Stover midget program last season.

Nebraska-Omaha (7-10-3 overall, 4-7-3 conference) is currently is sixth place in the 12-team Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

Oddo joins David Boehm (Massachusetts), Matt Donovan (Denver), Brady Hjelle (Minnesota-Duluth), Doug Jones (Dartmouth), Vince Mihalek (Cornell), Paul Phillips (Denver), Ian Slater (Western Michigan), Matt Tomassoni (Miami) and Chris Wideman (Miami) as the tenth member of the 2007-08 RoughRiders to make a college commitment.

The RoughRiders (17-7-1, 35 points) are currently in second place in the United States Hockey League’s East Division. The Riders, who suffered a 4-1 loss to the Black Hawks in Waterloo Monday night, will battle the Hawks again Friday night at 7:05 at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. One night later the Riders will welcome the Green Bay Gamblers to the ice arena for another 7:05 tilt.

Tickets for all remaining RoughRiders regular season home games- including this weekend’s games- are now on sale. Tickets are available for purchase in person at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena ticket office, over the phone at (319) 261-4625 or on line at www.roughridershockey.com. The ticket office is open from noon to 5:00PM on weekdays and from noon through the end of the second period on game days. Ticket prices range from $7 to $17 in advance and from $8 to $18 on game days.