Nolan Orzeck returns to the Iowa Heartlanders after time elsewhere

CORALVILLE — Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty are known for some of their really good locally owned restaurants. Lots of good eats around.

Nolan Orzeck says he missed some of them.

“Can’t go wrong with the Iowa Athletic Club,” Orzeck said. “Big Grove Brewery, I like that place, too. There are a couple of other spots.”

The Iowa Heartlanders defenseman is back in the Corridor for the first time in almost three years. He re-signed with the ECHL club in the offseason and has been an integral part of a team that has gotten off to a good start to the 2025-26 season.

Iowa hosts Fort Wayne for games Friday night at 7 and Saturday night at 6.

“Happy to be back,” Orzeck said. “Started my career here, so a lot of memories. It’s been different, but I still love the area, love the fans, and we’ve got a really good group of guys here. Makes it really easy to come back.”

After five seasons of major junior hockey in the Western Hockey League in Canada, the 24-year-old Calgary native turned professional by signing with the Heartlanders for the 2022-23 season. He had six goals and 28 assists in 66 games.

Iowa traded him early the following season to the ECHL’s Allen Americans in Texas. He spent the remainder of 2023-24 there, then played 24 games last season.

That’s when he got a chance to go overseas, signing a deal with Sport Vaasa of the SM-liiga in Finland.

“It was a really good experience,” Orzeck said. “The hockey is really good over there. Just how they operate in that country was really cool to see. They’ve got a really good culture. It was a little more laid back. Less games, but the hockey was unbelievable.”

He picked up a few Finnish words to boot. Following the season, he again became a free agent and was contacted over the summer by first-year Heartlanders Coach/General Manager Chuck Weber about a possible return to North America, the ECHL and Coralville.

And Iowa Athletic Club and Big Grove.

“Just talking to Chuck in the summer, hearing what he had to say, the style of play he wanted, I felt it matched the way I play,” Orzeck said. “We had some good talks, and it was an easy decision knowing where I was going.”

Iowa (3-2-1) is coming off a 4-0 loss Wednesday night at Xtream Arena to Fort Wayne. The Komets are perennially one of the strongest teams in the ECHL, so this three-game set gives the Heartlanders a very early chance to see where they are as a team.

“From a standards standpoint, we know this game wasn’t up to our expectations,” Weber said postgame Wednesday. “We’re not just creating a culture here about being a good hockey team, we’re trying to create a championship culture that is sustainable year in and year out.

“We’re treating this like a playoff series. It’s best of 3. We lost the first game, so we need to be ready to come out and prepare to do the little things on Friday.”

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