Jaxon Nelson scored a pair of goals Sunday for the Iowa Heartlanders in their 5-4 loss at Xtream Arena to the Tulsa Oilers. A former captain for the University of Minnesota hockey team didn’t play a ton of minutes last season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, something that won’t be the case this season.
The Iowa Heartlanders begin the 2025-26 ECHL hockey season Friday night at home against the Tulsa Oilers. The three-in-three weekend sees the club play Saturday night at Bloomington and Sunday afternoon back at home against Tulsa. The Heartlanders made the ECHL playoffs for the first time last season and has a new head coach in Chuck Weber.
Iowa City West graduate Ben Pizzimenti has signed a contract to attend training camp with the Iowa Heartlanders, the ECHL hockey club has announced. Pizzimenti played high school hockey in the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders program and collegiately at NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) Concordia University in Wisconsin.
The Iowa Heartlanders announced Tuesday that Chuck Weber has been hired as the ECHL franchise’s new head coach. Weber, 52, has been a head coach and assistant coach in the ECHL, the American Hockey League, England and Division I college hockey. He won two Kelly Cup championships in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Iowa Heartlanders head coach and general manager Derek Damon will leave the ECHL hockey club to take over as head coach and president of hockey operations of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the junior United States Hockey League. Damon was an assistant coach for Iowa in its inaugural season of 2021-22, taking over at head coach/GM in the summer of 2022. The Heartlanders and Bucs both are owned by New York businessman Michael Devlin
The Iowa Heartlanders qualified for the ECHL playoffs for the first time in their four-year existence. They won their first playoff game. But winning their first playoff series will have to wait. Fort Wayne scored three goals in the third period and went on to beat the Heartlanders, 4-1, in the deciding Game 7 of the ECHL first-round playoff series.
The Fort Wayne Komets scored twice in the first period and beat the Iowa Heartlanders, 6-1, Sunday in Game 6 of their ECHL first-round playoff series. The teams play a winner-take-all Game 7 Tuesday night in Indiana.
The Iowa Heartlanders scored three goals in a five-minute span in the latter half of the first period and went on to a 5-2 victory Thursday night over Fort Wayne in Game 5 of their ECHL first-round playoff series at Xtream Arena. Iowa has a 3-2 series edge, with Game 6 coming Sunday afternoon at Fort Wayne and a possible deciding game 7 on Tuesday night in Indiana.
The Iowa Heartlanders lost an overtime game Monday night, 7-6, to the Fort Wayne Komets. But they got a double-OT goal from defenseman Zeteny Hadobas Tuesday night to pick up a 3-2 win that ties their first-round ECHL playoff series at two games apiece.
The Iowa Heartlanders rallied twice from two goals down in Monday night’s Game 3 of an ECHL first-round playoff hockey series at Xtream Arena. That included scoring a tying goal late in regulation. But the Fort Wayne Komets got a goal from Jack Gorniak 2:17 into overtime for a wild 7-6 win. Fort Wayne holds 2-1 edge in best-of-7 series.
The Fort Wayne Komets knocked off the Iowa Heartlanders, 5-2, Saturday night in Game 2 of their ECHL first-round playoff series at Fort Wayne. The teams are tied at a game apiece, as the best-of-seven series shifts to Coralville for Game 3, 4, 5, beginning Monday night.
Make it 1 for 1 for the Iowa Heartlanders, who won their first-ever ECHL playoff game Friday night, 5-3, at Fort Wayne. Gavin Hain had a goal and two assists for Iowa.
The Iowa Heartlanders qualified for the ECHL playoffs this season for the first time in the four-year history of the franchise. Their first-round opponent is the Fort Wayne Komets, a franchise that has won 10 championships in various leagues in its history. Game 1 is Friday night Indiana.
Heartlanders fall to Norfolk 5-3 in weekend series finale
The Iowa Heartlanders clinched a spot in the ECHL playoffs Sunday. Derek Damon has put together a successful team in his fourth season in the Corridor, his third as head coach and general manager. It has been hard work, for certain, but well worth it for the Maine native, whose ultimate goal is being a NHL general manager some day.
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