RoughRiders to host "Battle of Iowa" preseason matchup

I'm glad to see that the Roughriders are trying to revive some preseason hockey in Eastern Iowa now that the Des Moines Buccaneers' "Buc Bowl" has died out. Four teams will be playing in the "Battle of Iowa" (Cedar Rapids and their arch-rival Waterloo) as well as Sioux City and Des Moines on September 19 & 20 at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. I doubt that the western division games will draw much of a crowd, but the Roughrider/Blackhawk match up should definitely bring in the die hard fans that have been waiting all summer for some solid hockey as well as some newcomers who want to see an exciting game.

The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, September 19

3:00 PM Des Moines Buccaneers VS Sioux City Musketeers

7:00 PM Cedar Rapids Rough Riders VS Waterloo Blackhawks

Sunday, September 20

1:00 PM Waterloo Blackhawks VS Des Moines/Sioux City (depends upon winners Sat.)

5:00 Cedar Rapids VS Des Moines/Sioux City (depends upon winners Sat.)

During this hard economic time it's also great to see that ticket prices will only be $15 p/day for adults and $10 p/day for children. Some fans who only want to see one game may find this semi-expensive, but when you consider that a single game runs around 3 hours, they're getting six solid hours of entertainment for $15. You can't beat that! Hopefully the stable is packed and some new fans will get as addicted to hockey as the rest of us. It's hard to tell how this event will go over, but I applaud the RoughRiders organization for pulling out some new ideas this season and really putting forth an effort to make Cedar Rapids a true hockey town.