Corridor Cross Checks: Cole Golka of Iowa Heartlanders goes from D-III college to pro hockey

CORALVILLE - Perhaps he’d have been in the ECHL prior to this had he gone to another college. Had he chosen the Division I level instead of D-III.

Perhaps not.

Cole Golka is playing professional hockey and is in what’s considered the sport’s Double-A level right now with the Iowa Heartlanders, and that’s the biggest thing. He’s getting an opportunity.

“I had multiple Division I looks, but some things just don’t fit,” the 27-year-old forward said. “The amount of money they were going to give you wasn’t as much as I received when I went Division III. I had multiple Canadian university offers as well. At the time, it seemed like the best fit for my career. Whether it was or not, maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t. But it’s led me on the path I’m on today. I met some unbelievable people there as well.”

‘There’ is St. Scholastica College in Duluth, Minn., the Division III school Golka decided to attend, beginning as a 20-year-old. An Androssan, Alberta, native, he played junior hockey in his home country prior to college.

After four years with the Saints, he spent two seasons in the Southern Professional Hockey League, sat out all of last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, signed back with the SPHL’s Quad City Storm this season and finally got an ECHL chance in November when the Heartlanders signed him.

He has five goals in 31 games for Iowa, including back-to-backers just 23 seconds apart in a win last week over the Indy Fuel. They were beauties: the first one on a rebound as he was falling to the ice, the second a tip of a point shot top shelf.

“He brings a lot of energy,” said Iowa Coach Gerry Fleming. “He’s good on the forecheck, goes to those dirty areas, plays physical. There is nothing spectacular about his game, other than he can make simple plays around the net offensively.”

Golka is a smaller dude at a listed 5-foot-9, but he knows you’ve got to get to the net if you want to score at the professional level. Any level, really.

“I’m a smaller guy, but you can’t play small,” he said. “Especially in this league, there is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the play. There’s one referee, and they can’t see (everything). So you’ve got to fight extra hard to get into those spots. You take a beating, but you do what you need to do to conditioning yourself to be able to handle that.”

The Heartlanders went 1-2 last week, with all games at Xtream Arena. The club beat Indy on Wednesday night, 5-3, then dropped a pair of weekend games to Kalamazoo, 5-2 and 3-2.

Ryan Kuffner returned to the Iowa lineup over the weekend after a lengthy absence due to injury. The forward, who has played 10 games for the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL in his career, had two goals Friday night and another Saturday night.

THE CEDAR RAPIDS ROUGHRIDERS

It was a very good week for the Riders, nearly a great week and definitely an exciting week. Cedar Rapids played a pair of home shootouts, beating Dubuque on Friday night, 5-4, then losing to the Chicago Steel the following night, 3-2.

Chicago is second to Muskegon by a point in the USHL’s Eastern Conference and Dubuque third. The RoughRiders are 3-0 this season against Dubuque.

Zacch Wisdom had two goals for Cedar Rapids against Dubuque, including one with seven minutes left in regulation that gave it a 4-3 lead. Dubuque tied the game just under two minutes later.

Connor Hasley made saves on all three shootout attempts, allowing Adam Flammang’s sucessful attempt to be the winner.

Flammang’s team-leading 18th goal of the season midway through the third period brought the RoughRiders into a 2-2 tie Saturday night against Chicago. He also was successful as C.R.’s first shootout participant.

The shootout ended up going seven rounds, with Chicago winning, 2-1. Bruno Bruveris took the loss in net for the Riders, though he played well.

Saturday night’s attendance for both clubs was very good: 2,766 in Cedar Rapids and 2,744 in Coralville.

THIS WEEK

The RoughRiders (15-17-1-1, 30 standings points) have a home-and-home this weekend against the Green Bay Gamblers, though it’s a different kind of home-and-home series.

The first game is Saturday night in Wisconsin at 7:05. The return matchup is Sunday afternoon at 4:05 at ImOn Ice in Cedar Rapids.

The Riders have a rare Friday off. Green Bay goes into the weekend with a 16-15-2-1 record and 35 standings points, sixth in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.

It’s an all-road week for the Heartlanders. Iowa plays Wednesday night at Cincinnati against the Cyclones, then plays Friday night at Toledo against the Walleye and Saturday night at Wheeling against the Nailers.

Going into this week, Toledo leads the ECHL’s Central Division with 54 standings points. Cincinnati is third with 45 and Wheeling fifth with 41. The Heartlanders are eighth and last with 36 standings points.

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