The Metro Sports Report will provide extensive coverage of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders hockey team this season on the MSR website, the company announced Sunday.

The Metro Sports Report was launched in January of 2011 with thorough coverage of the seven biggest high schools in the Metro area. The company added Cedar Valley Christian in August 2011, Kirkwood Community College last November, the Cedar Rapids Kernels this March and now the RoughRiders.

Many of the stories about the RoughRiders will appear on the Metro Sports Report home page. The RoughRiders also will have their own dedicated page on the website, just like all the other teams. Simply go to the top of the home page and click on RoughRiders.

"We are delighted to be adding the RoughRiders to our lineup," said MSR President Jim Ecker. "Hockey is an exciting sport and the RoughRiders have legions of loyal fans who love attending games at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

"Our company continues to grow and expand, and adding the RoughRiders is the next logical step," said Ecker. "We can't wait to get started."

The Metro Sports Report has enjoyed more than 2.5 million pageviews since the company was launched less than three years ago and anticipates reaching 3 million by the end of this year.

The Metro Sports Report's coverage of the RoughRiders will be similar to its coverage of the Kernels.

"We will cover all of the home games and also will cover all of the in-state games," said Ecker. "For the Kernels, that means covering all their games in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Burlington and Clinton. For the RoughRiders, that means covering all of their United States Hockey League games in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Waterloo and Des Moines."

Unlike the Kernels, who are paid professional baseball players, the RoughRiders are all amateur athletes who aspire to play in college and in the National Hockey League some day. The RoughRiders have seen 12 of their former players make the NHL, so it is possible to get from here to there.

The RoughRiders will begin preseason training camp this Thursday at the Ice Arena. Coach Mark Carlson will be welcoming 28 players to camp from all over the United States and Canada, and one of the most interesting prospects is 16-year-old defenseman Ivan Provorov from Russia.

Provorov will be the youngest player in camp. "We're looking forward to having him come in," said Carlson.

Nate Widman, a 20-year-old defenseman from Naperville, Ill., will be the oldest.

Seventeen of the guys in camp have played for the RoughRiders before. All told, there are 18 players with USHL experience and 10 rookies.

Carlson thinks "character" will be the strength of this year's club.

"I think that's really important," he said. "I think character is going to be the strength of the group of people that we have. I think we've got a hungry group of guys that have worked extremely hard, so I think the work ethic is there.

"I think we're going to be a team without a star, which is going to be an enormous strength, because I do think we're going to have depth."

The RoughRiders will name 23 players to their active roster by mid-September, but they also can have extra "affiliated" players on the squad who can work with the team and play in games. Carlson will dress 20 players for games with 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies.

The RoughRiders have players from 14 states on the team, stretching from coast to coast. They have players from Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and Michigan.

Carlson scours the country for players every year.

"Our scouting and our recruiting are very, very similar to what Kirk Ferentz and Fran McCaffery do at Iowa. It's that extensive," he said. "We don't have the budget of a Division I college program, but the evaluating process, the travel, the work that's put into it are very similar."

Nineteen of the players in camp have already committed to college hockey teams, including some of the top programs in the country.

The high school players on the team will be attending Cedar Rapids Washington and Linn-Mar during their time with the RoughRiders. The high school graduates will be taking classes at Kirkwood Community College and/or working at a part-time job in the community.

The RoughRiders have a Host Family Program, similar to the Kernels, where players live with local families in the area.

The RoughRiders will play Dubuque in an exhibition game at the Ice Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 10. They will begin the regular season at Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 27 and will open the home portion of their USHL campaign on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 7:05 p.m. against Sioux Falls.

PRESEASON ROSTER

* Has RoughRiders Experience
(College Commitments in Parenthesis)

Mark Evan Auk*, 5-11, 195, St. Claire Shores, Mich., Defense (Michigan Tech)
Avni Berisha*, 5-9, 198, Doylestown, Pa., Defense
Chris Birdsall*, 5-11, 175, Glen Rock, N.J., Goalie (Boston College)
Cody Champagne, 5-9, 170, Brookfield, Conn., Defense
Bryson Cianfrone*, 5-8, 178, Stoney Creek, Ontario, Forward (Michigan)
Charlie Curti, 5-11, 189, Mound, Minn., Defense
Casey Jerry, 6-1, 180, Hudson, Wis., Forward
Carlos Fornaris, 5-8, 156, Miami, Fla., Forward (RPI)
Alex Funk, 5-8, 165, Winona, Minn., Forward
Dylan Gareau*, 6-0, 194, Richmond, Ontario, Forward (Clarkson)
Jason Kalinowski, 5-10, 189, Stamford, Conn., Forward (New Hampshire)
Clark Kuster*, 5-9, 189, St. Louis, Mo., Defense (St. Cloud State)
Alec Marsh*, 5-10, 187, Bridgewater, N.J., Forward (Penn State)
Nick Master, 5-11, 160, Broomall, Pa., Forward (Mass.-Lowell)
Dylan McLaughlin,*, 5-10, 180, Lancaster, N.Y., Forward (Providence)
Scott Moldenhauer*, 6-3, 220, Oak Ridge, N.C., Defense (Western Michigan)
Paul O'Connor*, 5-9, 176, St.Peters, Mo., Defense
Andrew Oglevie*, 5-9, 176, Fullerton, Calif., Forward (Notre Dame)
Ross Olsson*, 6-4, 218, North Billerica, Mass., Forward (Northeastern)
Judd Peterson*, 6-0, 196, Duluth, Minn., Forward (St. Cloud State)
Corey Petrash*, 5-9, 176, East St.Paul, Manitoba, Forward (Bemidji State)
Andrew Poturalski*, 5-10, 188, Williamsville, N.Y., Forward (New Hampshire)
Ivan Provorov, 5-11, 185, Yaroslavl, Russia, Defense
Jerad Rosburg, 6-0, 181, Clarksville, Md., Defense
Jack Rowe*, 6-0, 174, Cary, Ill., Forward (North Dakota)
Dylan Steman*, 5-10, 184, Hanover, Minn., Forward (Michigan Tech)
Danny Tirone, 5-10, 171, Trumbull, Conn., Goalie (New Hampshire)
Nate Widman, 6-0, 209, Naperville, Ill., Defense