Full, tenacity obvious features in CR RoughRiders defender Joe Fleming’s hockey game

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders defender Joe Fleming

CEDAR RAPIDS – We will first give you an inquiry about him. With the permission of his Cedar Rapids RoughRiders head coach.

“He has a lot of good qualities,” Mark Carlson said. “She’s doing well for a man this size. He has a good attitude and deception in the game. She has real skill in scheduling body examinations. Really tough customer. He becomes a really good, versatile defender.

You will now be given an intelligence report Joe Fleming. Courtesy of Joe Fleming.

“I think I defend pretty well,” the first-year defender said. – I like to fight shots and play hard. I think I’ll bring it to the table. “

And size and tenacity. Don’t forget these two things.

Fleming is a solid 6 feet 2 and 215 pounds. He has shown up early U.S. Hockey League season that he will hit you as soon as he looks at you.

He leads the league with 78 penalty minutes, 26 minutes ahead of second place. He has dropped his gloves, admitting he was sometimes a little too keen on physical play.

She learns. RoughRiders (5-5) have won four of their five games on Saturday night in their home game against the Des Moines Buccaneers.

Cedar Rapids beat Bucs 5-3 on Friday night in Urbandale.

“I enjoy that part, yes,” Fleming said. “Obviously I need to alleviate it a bit, but I think I enjoy it, yes.”

Let’s move on to Fleming’s background story, which is pretty good. Wellesley, 18, of Massachusetts, probably gets his tough character on the ice from his father.

Elder Joe Fleming was playing hockey at the time, and he was good enough for the St. Louis Blues when he was in high school. But football became his sport, as he played on the defensive line at the University of New Hampshire and then for 10 years in the Canadian Football League, British Columbia Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Calgary Stampeders.

He was the only CFL man four times and won the Gray Cup.

“My dad played both hockey and football in New Hampshire for the first year, then he had to quit (hockey) because he was obese and so on. He eventually chose football, Fleming said. “I’ve never played football. I never got into it. My parents put me on skates when I was maybe 2 years old. Me and my sister… They dressed us at a young age, and I just fell in love with it.”

By the way, Erin Fleming plays for the Sacred Heart University women’s hockey team and also defends. Older sister Maddie was born in Calgary and has dual citizenship.

Don’t forget that his mother also gave him good sports genes. Stacy Fleming played football and is at the Assumption College Athletics Hall.

Senior Joe Fleming owns a real estate company in the Boston area. There, younger Joe Fleming plays his college hockey, the Northeastern University commitment.

“I just fell in love with the coaching staff there,” he said. “I always watched them grow. I loved everyone there. It’s 15 minutes from my house. “

But first comes, of course, the preparation for college hockey. Fleming has a goal in eight games and a plus-minus plus one.

It’s a big adjustment from the preschool he was in last winter, and he’s feeling the progress.

“Cedar Rapids is a really neat place,” he said. “I’ve never really been to a place like this before. Everything is new, but it’s awesome.

“I think it’s just work on everything. Speed ​​up, stay fit and do everything right. I feel like that’s what I need to do. Obviously you can improve on everything, so I want to do it.”

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