Circus forces hockey team out of its arena

A scheduling oversight has forced the Rough-Riders, Cedar Rapids’ U-S-H-L hockey team, to play their home playoff games…away from home. Cedar Rapids ice-arena officials realized that elephants and power plays don’t mix. Northwest Sports, which managed the ice arena for a time, scheduled the el-Kahir Shrine Circus before the Rough Riders earned a spot in the playoffs. Now, the Riders are into the second round and can’t play games at home. Tammy Koolbeck with the new management company Compass, says they have to honor the agreement. She says the problem unfortunately is that the team can’t be at home in this round, but she’s confident that they’ll make it to the third round and managers will put the ice down again for them after the circus leaves. The Rough Riders will play their home games at Young Arena in Waterloo starting Saturday night. The series begins tonight in Omaha.