General | 9/22/2023 1:24:08 PM

Welcome to the League, kid.

It took Cade Littler just two games into his USHL career to achieve a feat that only eight rookies managed to do all of last season. Tallying a goal in each of the first, second and third periods of Cedar Rapids’ Thursday night game against Youngstown made Littler the first player this season to record a hat trick.
 
His three-goal performance propelled the RoughRiders to a 5-1 win over the reigning Clark Cup champion Phantoms. That victory earned the team a 1-1 split from a pair of games at the 2023 USHL Fall Classic this weekend in Pittsburgh.
 
“Like all of our guys, it’s important for Cade to be a real good two-way player for us,” said veteran head coach Mark Carlson, who’s in his 24^th season behind the Cedar Rapids bench. “We certainly believe he can contribute on the offensive side of things, but the defensive side, the penalty kill side are as important.”
 
Littler scored his first goal of the season with under five minutes to play in the opening period. The North Dakota commit finished off a sequence where both Nicholas Mikan and Riley Bassen helped set up the play. That gave Cedar Rapids a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
 
Braiden Clark cut into the deficit to put Youngstown on the board midway through the contest. However, just a few moments later, Littler would strike again to reclaim the two-goal lead.
 
In a fluky series of events, Littler capped off the scoring 26 seconds into the third period. With a delayed penalty, the RoughRiders pulled their goalie and went on the attack. An errant pass deflected off of Littler’s shin and found its way to the back of the net. Amidst all of the confusion between both teams, the rookie had completed his three-goal night in an unconventional manner and concluded the scoring at 5-1 in favor of Cedar Rapids.
 
While Littler’s third goal was anything but ordinary, Carlson said there’s always a hockey lesson to be learned.
 
“The guys had some fun with it but for me there’s a lesson in it,” he said. “Get around the net, get around the paint. You want to score? Get around the paint.”
 
Driving the net hard is certainly a key component of Littler’s game. The 2022 seventh-round pick of the Calgary Flames has a proven track record for producing offense. He spent the last two seasons in the BCHL, where he scored 57 goals and 128 points in 118 games. The 6-foot-3 center from East Wenatchee, Wash., will most likely continue to play an important role for the RoughRiders this season.
 
“He’s another character guy, works very hard, wants to be a player, committed to being a player,” said Carlson. “He’s got good hockey sense and vision and hands. There’s just so much there that excites you both short-term and long-term about becoming one heck of a hockey player.”
 
Littler is the first Cedar Rapids rookie to record a hat trick since Robby Newton did it — coincidentally, also at the USHL Fall Classic — in 2019. 
 
The RoughRiders are 6-10-0 all-time at the USHL Fall Classic, after splitting a pair of games at the ninth annual event this week. Their 1-1 start to the season has the organization looking forward to a strong campaign with a group of young players.
 
“I like our work ethic and we’ve got a driven group and we’re working hard to get better every day and I think we’re seeing that,” said Carlson. “I know we’re seeing that and I believe we’ll see that all year with the character of the guys that we have.”
 
The RoughRiders return to action on Sept. 30, when the Dubuque Saints come to town next Saturday.