Nick Pierre helping to create winning culture for RoughRiders
It's no coincidence that the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are playing really well since they acquired Nick Pierre.
As Pierre goes, so does the team.
It's amazing how fast life can change on a dime. Seven months ago, Nick Pierre sent the Sioux City bench into a frenzy after scoring the Clark Cup-winning goal in Madison. Flash forward, and the 18-year-old approached Musketeers general manager Troy Ward about initiating a trade out of town.
Despite the 2022-23 season being Ward's first as the Sioux City GM, replacing Andy Johnson who left the organization to be a scout with the Los Angeles Kings organization, Pierre quickly developed a strong connection with his new general manager.
There was no nervousness when the young forward approached Ward about how things were going and eventually discussed potential trade options.
At the time, the Cottage Grove, Minn., native had not gotten off to the best start. With just three points in 16 games, Pierre felt like a fresh start somewhere was the best option for him.
Within 48 hours, Ward had lined up a trade for Pierre to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. The first-year general manager looked after the best interest of his young forward. Instead of taking the best return, Ward found the best fit where Pierre would be set up for success.
"That's why I have so much respect for Sioux City because they want to leave you better off in a sense," Pierre said of the trade. "(Ward) made it very helpful and easy for me to transition into a new environment and feel good about what I was doing."
Pierre sought out a trade before Christmas so that he could get settled in and acclimated to a new team. While his time in Sioux City may be done, the young forward will forever look back fondly during his time as a Musketeer.
Not just because he scored an iconic goal for the franchise, Pierre will be the first to say that the road winning the Clark Cup was a true team effort. Players putting aside nagging injuries or waiting to have their mouths literally stitched up motivated the rest of the team.
"I was just fortunate enough to be there, but I truly want to put it on the team because it's not just one person out there," he said, looking back at the team's Clark Cup run. "It's a group of 25 guys, and some of them are up in the stands. But the majority of them are on the ice, and everyone's rooting for one another, and everyone's feeding off each other's energy.
"Just to go into overtime and be able to win that game and have that goal, I can't put it into words; it was so special. Some kids dream about being that. Just to be the one that was fortunate enough to have that puck on my stick and to be able to put it in, it was a very special moment."
Pierre and his Sioux City teammates will forever be connected by that goal, that moment, and he's hoping to do the same with his new team.
Stepping into the RoughRiders organization with nearly 100 games of USHL experience under his belt, Pierre is undoubtedly an immediate leader.
While the coaching staff has not directly approached him about taking on a leadership role, nor does he wear a letter for Cedar Rapids, the way that he goes about his business combined with his postseason experience make Pierre someone that the younger players on the roster can look to see how things are done.
But if there's one thing that the 18-year-old wanted to instill in his new teammates, a winning culture comes from having fun on the ice.
"For the majority of my time here so far, I've really been trying to lead the aspect of just having fun and playing the game the right way and trying to lead by example the best way I can and just bringing a lot of energy and having fun with it; being a guy that's loud on the bench, trying to pick people up when they're down, trying to encourage people, trying to be an enforcer and all that stuff," he said.
It's no coincidence that Cedar Rapids, who was near the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference, have collected seven points in their last ten games, coinciding with Pierre's time with the team. Added, they've won their first three games out of the holiday break, including an eye-opening 7-2 win against the first-place Chicago Steel.
The young forward has quickly adopted the team's hard-nosed mentality when playing against teams higher than them in the standings.
"We're not intimidated by how good they might be on paper or how many points their top guys have-- we don't care," he said. "We know that we're going to go and shut them down in the D zone, and we're going to make their life as hard as possible so that we can get that win. It's been really fun to be a part of so far."
The Merrimack College commit has three goals and an assist in seven games since the trade. Added, he recently collected his first two-goal game since March 26 of last season.
Pierre has always made sure never to get complacent. It's something he's harped on everywhere he's gone. So when he arrived in Cedar Rapids, the newest RoughRider continued with the same work ethic that got him where he is today.
And his new teammates have quickly bought into the same mindset.
"As long as we stay on this path and stay on the straight and narrow and keep playing the game that we're playing right now, I believe that will be a contender for the Clark Cup, which is awesome," he said. "Everyone's buying into one another, and it's so fun to see.
"I'll go back to this one. When everyone's doing that, everyone's having fun. And when everyone's having fun, we're winning games. So that's how I look at it. But the reason why we're having so much success is due to the fact that everyone is putting their head down and working. Everyone wants it just as bad as the guy next to them."
As Pierre goes, so does the team.