Corridor Cross Checks: Iowa Heartlanders conduct promotion to grow hockey interest and participation among females

CEDAR RAPIDS - Hockey’s not just a sport for males. Females love it and play it, too.

The Iowa Heartlanders are making sure everyone is aware of that as part of their Women In Sports Night promotion Saturday night at Xtream Arena. The Heartlanders play the second of three ECHL games this weekend against the Kalamazoo Wings that night at 6.

Two players from the Minnesota Frost of the Professional Women’s Hockey League will be in attendance: Mellissa Channell-Watkins and Sophie Jacques. The PWHL was founded in 2023 by the Mark Walter Group. Walter is part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Major League Baseball and is a Cedar Rapids native and Jefferson High School graduate.

The league has six teams: in Saint Paul, Minn., Montreal, New York, Toronto Ottawa and Boston.

“The growth of all women’s sports is something that we make sure we are supporting, particularly on the hockey side,” said Heartlanders team president Matt Getz. “Women who are taking advantage of additional opportunities to them, we want to see hockey as one of those options. Just finding a way to put that out in front of them.”

Getz said the promotion is being sponsored by the Iowa City Sports Commission and is in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which is Feb. 5. The Heartlanders are having selected girls be part of their “honor staff,” shadowing and helping out the team’s public address announcer, in-game host, radio broadcaster, social media team and marketing and operations department.

Tickets to the game are buy one get one free. Purchasers can come to a pregame “Hockey 101 Class” at Xtream Arena from 2 to 3 p.m. to learn about the game, courtesy of Heartlanders coaches, players, Channell-Watkins and Jaques.

“Let’s just give a chance for people to come in without any sort of preconceived notions or hesitations,” Getz said. “Come in and take a look at it. If you want to learn more about the sport, you can learn some of the terms, be able to learn how to hold a stick, maybe learn how to take a wrist shot, a slap shot, pass ... in a very low stake’s environment. We’re pretty excited about that.”

On the ice, the Heartlanders lost a pair of road games and won one last weekend.

The win came Saturday night at Toledo, 4-3, in overtime. Defenseman Jules Boscq’s seventh goal this season 1:45 into OT was the winner.

Will Calverley had two goals in the game for Iowa, which built a 3-2 lead in the third period, only to see Toledo score with under five minutes left in regulation to send it to extra time.

The Heartlanders lost Sunday’s game against the Walleye, 4-2. They fell behind 3-0, rallying with goals a little over a minute apart midway through the third period from Yuki Miura and Gavin Hain.

An empty netter sealed Toledo’s deal.

Iowa fell Friday night at Cincinnati, 3-1. Keenan Stewart scored just 31 seconds into the game for the Heartlanders, but that was their only offense.

Iowa continues, though, to look good in the chase for one of four spots in the ECHL’s Central Division. It has a 22-13-4-2 for 50 standings points, good for third place, one behind second-place Fort Wayne and eight back of first-place Toledo.

Bloomington and Indy are in a fifth-place tie with 39 standings points.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

So close to a great weekend. SOOOO close.

The RoughRiders won the first game of their three-in-three set by winning Friday night at Chicago, 5-3. Cedar Rapids built a 3-0 lead and never trailed, outshooting the Steel by a 34-17 margin.

Amine Hajibi had a goal, two assists and a plus-minus rating of plus-three for the Riders. Charles Blanchard and Noel Ohgren had a goal and assist each.

The rest of the weekend was plain old heartbreak.

Cedar Rapids did pick up an important standings point but lost Saturday night at home to Sioux Falls in a shootout, 3-2. The Stampede won the shootout, 2-0, including the clinching successful attempt coming from former RoughRider Aiden Welch.

Thomas Vandenberg and Blanchard had C.R.’s goals.

The Riders then experienced even more of a dagger loss when Des Moines scored with one second left in regulation for a 3-2 win Sunday afternoon at ImOn Ice. Specifically Nate Delladonna scored for the Bucs and specifically it came with .6 to go.

Nick Romeo and Hans-Martin Ulvebne had C.R.’s goals. Thus the RoughRiders went from a very potential six-point weekend to a three-point weekend.

They do sit comfortably in a United States Hockey League playoff spot, however, 11 points up on the United States National Team Development Program for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

C.R. is six points back of fifth-place Green Bay with a 16-18-1-2 record. It’s two more home games this weekend for the Riders, with Lincoln coming to town Friday night and Fargo on Saturday night.

Opening faceoff both nights is 7:05.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com