Articles Tagged: Iowa Heartlanders

Forward Daniel Astapovich of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders played in the United States Hockey League two seasons ago. He spent last season in the lower-level North American Hockey League, getting another USHL shot this season.

Of all things, Dakota Raabe of the Iowa Heartlanders was a surfer growing up in Southern California, a member of his high school’s surfing team.

Riese Zmolek played junior hockey for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, played college hockey and then played professionally for the Iowa Heartlanders. His brother, Will, played junior hockey for the RoughRiders and is in his first season with the Hearlanders.

Forward Will Calverley was literally knocked out of game for the Iowa Heartlanders this past March at Cincinnati. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher and didn’t play again the rest of the ECHL season. After contemplating hanging up his skates for good, Calverley decided to continue to play and is an alternate captain for Iowa, which begins its season at home this weekend.

In the first edition of Corridor Cross Checks for the 2024-25 hockey season, we take a look at the upcoming ECHL season for the Iowa Heartlanders and Week 3 of the United States Hockey League season for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

The ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders announced Friday an extension of their working agreement with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. The Wild can assign contracted players to the Coralville club. Almost three dozen Heartlanders have played with the Wild’s top minor league team, the AHL’s Iowa Wild.

The ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders released their 2024-25 schedule Tuesday. The fourth-year club plays the expansion Bloomington Bison, its nearest geographic competitor, 15 times.

The Iowa Heartlanders announced Friday they have signed head coach and general manager Derek Damon to a multi-year contract extension. Damon has been part of the Heartlanders organization since their inaugural ECHL season.

The Iowa Heartlanders concluded their season over the weekend on a high note. They beat Kansas City, 7-4, before a franchise-record crowd of 4,878. They still finished last in the Central Division, last in the Western Conference with a 27-37-6-2 record.

Winger Nico Blachman of the Iowa Heartlanders is a fan favorite and engaging guy who left his Florida home at 13 to play prep school hockey in Minnesota. He has played for 20 junior, college and professional teams in 10 years and vows to keep going as an enforcer type of player.

The Iowa Heartlanders beat Wichita on three consecutive days last week. The ECHL club gave up just four goals in those games. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders dropped three games last week.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have picked up standings points in their last six USHL games to climb into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Part of the surge can be credited to the goaltending tandem of Rudy Guimond and James Norton. Guimond, a Detroit Red Wings draft pick, has been here all season. Norton joined the club in January after beginning the season in the NAHL and excelling in a short emergency stint with Dubuque of the USHL.

The lease for the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders at Xtream Arena in Coralville runs out at the end of this season. Team president Matt Getz said he is confident in an extension and excited about an uptick in home attendance since Christmas.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders head coach/general manager/president Mark Carlson is two wins shy of tying and three from breaking the United States Hockey League’s career coaching victories record. The Riders play three games this weekend.

Forward Gavin Hain was a draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers who signed an ECHL contract with the Iowa Heartlanders in September. But he’s spent most of this hockey season in the American Hockey League with the Iowa Wild. He’s back in Coralville ... for now.