Corridor Cross Checks: Iowa Heartlanders’ Tyler Busch beats his old team

CORALVILLE — It was weird.

“Yeah, a little strange,” Tyler Busch said.

The 26-year-old forward was acquired by the Iowa Heartlanders last week in a trade with the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets. The Komets got the proverbial future considerations in return.

Busch’s second game with his new hockey team came Sunday at Xtream Arena. The opponent was his old team, Fort Wayne.

“First time I’ve been traded in my career. A little different playing some guys who are old friends,” Busch said. “A little extra behind my effort tonight, I think. We had a great game as a team. From the top down, we were good all night. Yeah, it was nice to beat them. But more importantly it was nice to get our first win.”

Iowa won its first game of the season, 7-2. Busch had assists for every goal of linemate Cole Stallard’s hat trick.

A really good first impression. Or second impression, actually.

“It’s a big addition to get Tyler Busch on our team,” said Heartlanders Coach Derek Damon. “He’s a guy who has played pro, played for those guys, has a lot of experience.”

An Alberta native, Busch played collegiately at Arizona State, didn’t play at all in 2020-21 because of the pandemic and had eight goals in 59 games last season for Fort Wayne. He also spent four games with the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights.

He had a goal in two games for the Komets this season.

“A ton of emotions are going into it. Everything happens fast,” Busch said. “Honestly I feel like I’ve kind of been running around ever since I got the news I’d been traded until now. It’ll be nice to finally get settled in. The guys have been great and welcoming. I’m sure my team here will be real good.”

Iowa is 1-6 as it heads to the road for a pair of games this weekend: Friday night at Kansas City and Saturday night at Wichita. The Heartlanders were the last team in the ECHL to pick up a victory this season, let alone a standings point.

Cincinnati leads the Central Division with 11 points on a 5-0-0-1 record. Indy is next at 10 points (5-1 record).

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

Cedar Rapids split a pair of home games over the weekend, shutting out Des Moines, 4-0, and losing to Green Bay, 7-2.

Goaltender Bruno Bruveris made 23 saves against Des Moines to notch his second shutout of the young United States Hockey League season. The 20-year-old from Latvia recently committed to Miami (Ohio) and has emerged as a legit No. 1 goalie in his second season with the RoughRiders, fashioning a 5-2-1 record, 2.38 goals against average and .910 saves percentage.

Zacch Wisdom scored a pair of goals against the Buccaneers, increasing his team-leading total to seven this season. Ryan O’Connell had a goal and was C.R.’s lone plus skater against Green Bay.

The RoughRiders have a 5-5-2 record, their 12 standings points placing them in a tie for fourth place in the eight-team Eastern Conference. Chicago leads the division with 16 standings points.

Cedar Rapids hosts the Steel on Saturday night at ImOn Ice for the only game of the week for the RoughRiders. That will be the third and final game of a three-game suspension incurred by ballyhooed new defenseman Bryce Montgomery for a cross checking penalty in a game against Des Moines two weeks ago.

Montgomery, a Carolina Hurricanes draft pick, recently joined the club after spending time in Canada in the major junior Ontario Hockey League.

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