The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have played only three full games since the USHL season began three weeks ago, but that will change this week when they play a pair of road games far from home.

The RoughRiders face the Fargo Force in Fargo, N.D., Thursday night, then meet the Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Neb., Saturday night.

It's 514 miles from Cedar Rapids to Fargo, another 539 miles from Fargo to Kearney, then another 441 miles from Kearney back home. That's a total of 1,494 miles and considerable time on a bus.

"I figure it's 26 hours," RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said before leaving town.

Actually, Carlson welcomes the journey. He thinks spending all that time together will be good for team chemistry, which he thinks is strong already.

"Oh yeah, we love being on the road," he said. "It's one of the good things about hockey.

"This will be a real good trip for us," he said. "It's kind of odd, where you don't have another game the next day — you have an off-day there (Friday). For our league, that's strange."

Carlson figures the RoughRiders will return home Sunday when just about everyone else is still sleeping. "Probably at 4 or 5 in the morning," he said.

The RoughRiders' bus is equipped with satellite TV for the players to watch games or movies and help the trips go faster.

The RoughRiders have played only three full games this season, the fewest by any team in the league. Youngstown and Team USA, by comparison, have already played eight times.

The Riders had a 2-0 lead over Dubuque on Saturday night in Game 4, but that game was suspended midway through the second period when a Dubuque player was injured. The game will be finished at a later date.

Carlson would have liked more games by now to give his players more experience on the ice.

"It's definitely been challenging, that's for sure," he said. "But I think our guys have been real good. I think we have real good leadership on this team. They've been pretty focused in practice.

"Every year has its challenges," he said. "This year the schedule is definitely a challenge. You have to take a positive outlook on it and do the best you can."