Corridor Cross Checks: Iowa Heartlanders show their mettle in successful opening weekend

CEDAR RAPIDS — Chuck Weber got to the interview room Sunday afternoon at Xtream Arena and exhaled.

His Iowa Heartlanders had just finished off one of those patented three-in-three ECHL weekends with a 5-4 loss to the Tulsa Oilers. Iowa gave up a penalty shot goal 19 seconds in, an even-strength goal a minute later and fell behind 3-0 in the second period, battling back with a goal twice in the entertaining game.

The Heartlanders posted a franchise-high 51 shots on goal, outshooting Tulsa by a 51-24 margin.

“A lot of hockey,” said Weber, in his first season as Iowa head coach. “The ECHL is tough. It’s three games in a two and a half days. But you know what, our guys to the end. I couldn’t be more proud of the resiliency of this group. We came up short (Sunday), but if we can learn from that, we are going to have more wins than losses.”

Iowa won its season opener Friday night at home, 2-1, over Tulsa. Nolan Orzeck and Keltie Jeri-Leon had goals a couple minutes apart in the third period to rally the Heartlanders from behind.

The club then traveled Saturday night to Bloomington and picked up a 6-5 shootout victory. Jeri-Leon and Jack O’Brien had successful attempts as Iowa won the shootout, 2-1.

Jeri-Leon also had two goals and an assist in regulation. He had three goals and two assists in the three games.

Weber was asked what he thought of his team’s compete level over the weekend.

“I didn’t like,” he said. “I loved it. These guys, they battled. We had guys bleeding on the ice that are trying to get glued up so they can get back. I thought we did a good job of staying out of the penalty box for the most part this weekend. That has to be us. We have to win the special teams battle. We’re the sum of our parts. We don’t have that superstar, but we have some really good players.

“We’re beat up a little bit, had some guys out of the lineup. But the guys continue to push.”

Jaxon Nelson led the Heartlanders over the weekend with two goals and four assists. He played all last season in the higher-level American Hockey League.

Iowa hits the road for two games this weekend at Kalamazoo. Opening faceoff Friday night is 6 p.m. (Iowa time) and 3:30 Saturday afternoon.

Cedar Rapids went 1-1 last week.

The RoughRiders won Wednesday night at Omaha, 4-3. Cooper Simon scored his first goal of the season early in the third period for the difference.

Jackson Fox and Connor Davis had goals as C.R. took a 2-1 lead after the first period. Omaha scored twice for a 3-2 lead in the second, with Braiden Scuderi tying things later in the period.

Cedar Rapids lost Friday night at home to the Chicago Steel, 5-4. The Riders rallied from 3-0 down to tie the game late in the second period on goals from Justin Graf, Henry Lechner and David Bosco.

Chicago went back ahead late in the second and added a late third-period goal to pull away. The RoughRiders are 6-2-0-1 for 13 standings points, which places them in fourth place in what appears to be a very strong Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League.

Cedar Rapids plays Friday night at Omaha and Saturday night at Sioux Falls.

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