All of the players on the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are looking forward to playing hockey in college some day. Nate Widman has been there and come back after a bit of bad luck.

Widman, 20, played three games at Brown University last year before tearing the ACL in his right knee in early November. There also was a change in his financial aid package at the Ivy League school, so he left college and is looking forward to starting the process all over again with a fresh start.

Widman joined 25 other players Wednesday as the RoughRiders began preseason practice at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. Two players on the 28-man preseason roster did not skate due to minor injuries, but Coach Mark Carlson put everyone else through a rigorous two-hour workout at The Stable.

Widman played for the RoughRiders during the 2011-12 season and played for the Omaha Lancers in the USHL in 2010-11, so he knows his way around the league. He likes what he's seen in Cedar Rapids so far.

"It's a team that has everything," he said Wednesday after practice. "It's just going to be a matter of coming together, but we seem to have all the parts for success."

Widman grew up in Naperville, Ill., and began playing hockey when he was 6 or 7 years old, which he claimed put him behind some of the other players his age.

"I was a late starter," he said. "Most people start when they're 4 or 5. I was 7, I think. I couldn't wait until I could get on those top teams when I was younger."

Ivy League schools like Brown do not offer athletic scholarships, so Widman was dependent on the financial aid package the school offered him last year. The deal would have declined this year because his older brother has graduated from college, affecting the amount of money Brown could offer Widman. He's now looking for a new school.

"That was a huge reason for me coming back (to Cedar Rapids)," he said. "I want to get a money-based offer on my merits and not if my older brother is in school or if my dad changes job. I want it to be based off what I do."

Widman, a 6-foot, 209-pound defenseman, has talked to a few colleges about joining them for the 2014-15 school year, but nothing has been resolved. The amount of the athletic scholarship is one part of the equation, but so is Widman's knee.

"I think a lot of people are waiting to see what I look like when I come back, if I can do the same things and if I was the same player that I was and if I can play," he said.

Widman tore his ACL in the third game of the season last year on Nov.2 against Harvard. He was skating on the second shift for Brown and looking forward to a good season. Instead, he had surgery Nov. 15 and has been rehabbing ever since, getting ready for his third year in the USHL.

"I feel great," he said after practice. "For the first time playing with full contact in awhile, I felt really good out there."

Widman has already had a taste of college life, unlike his teammates. He's eager for a second chance.

"Not playing last year really opened up my eyes," he said. "It made me realize how much I do like this game, and I do want to play and how much fun I have playing."