Corridor Cross Checks: Will Calverley decides to keep playing after a scary injury last season with Iowa Heartlanders

CORALVILLE — This was not the way he wanted to go out. So he didn’t.

Will Calverley seriously contemplated ending his professional hockey career after having to be taken off the ice on a stretcher in an ECHL game this past March for the Iowa Heartlanders at Cincinnati. He took a bad hit from behind into the boards by an opposing player and was knocked unconscious.

Calverley didn’t play again the rest of the season.

With a master’s degree in hand from Merrimack College in Massachusetts, the pull of getting on with life in a professional field other than hockey was strong. But Calverley was Thursday afternoon named an alternate captain of the 2024-25 Heartlanders.

He’s not done, yet.

“I guess just kind of how things ended last year and how everything kind of went for me,” Calverley said. “I didn’t know where I’d be mentally. But hockey has always kind of been (an escape) for me, it’s been a way for me to kind of express myself. So I figured I owed it to myself to end on my terms, kind of go out on my own terms instead of how things ended last year.

“And I think just kind of prove myself that I can still do it. That (the injury) wasn’t going to slow me down. So that was kind of the determining factor on coming back. And obviously, too, the love of the game.”

Calverley, 26, is an Ontario native who played four seasons of Division I college hockey at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York before his grad year. He won a Kelly Cup with the Florida Everblades in 2023 after signing with the club that spring following his season at Merrimack.

He was traded to the Heartlanders that spring and played 39 games last season for the club, scoring eight goals and adding 13 assists. He got an invite to training camp this fall with the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild.

“It was awesome, a good way to kind of get back into things,” he said. “It had been awhile for me, but just to get invited to it was a great honor. Obviously to see how they do it at that level, to understand what separates them at that level and push yourself to hopefully get back there. It makes you a better player in that sense.”

“I think I did (make an impression). I just tried to play my game, make it simple, just tried to work hard. Just try to be myself and not reinvent the wheel.”

Calverley is an alternate to captain Yuki Miura. The team’s other alternate captains are Dakota Raabe and Nico Blachman.

The Heartlanders have their home and season opener Friday night at 7 against the Fort Wayne Komets. The teams play again Saturday night at 6, with a pregame tailgate event played outside the arena beginning at 3.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

Last week was rough for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. No pun intended.

Not only did the club lose its two games: 5-0 at Fargo and 6-4 at Sioux Falls. But one of its top players departed.

Forward Loa Milfors returned to Sweden and signed a professional contract with a team in the country.

RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said it was an NCAA clearinghouse issue. When it became apparent Milfors was not going to be eligible to play college hockey in the United States, he decided to go home.

Cedar Rapids was shut out by goalie Damian Slavik, who made 32 saves. That included stopping a third-period penalty shot attempt by newcomer Nick Romeo.

Against Sioux Falls, the Riders built a 2-0 first-period lead, gave up three consecutive goals, tied things at 3-3 in the third period on a James Mackey goal but allowed goals at 8:03 by Reid Varkonyi and 13:36 by Aleksandr Rybakov to fall.

Heath Nelson and Cayden Casey had C.R.’s other goals, their first as USHL players. The RoughRiders play Friday night at Des Moines and host Omaha at 7:05 Saturday night at ImOn Ice Arena.

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