Derek Whitmore comes out of a 4-year retirement to play for Iowa Heartlanders

CEDAR RAPIDS - He’s still got game.

Not that Derek Whitmore wants to do anything more with it. His full-time job is enough.

Whitmore is an assistant hockey coach for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. He’s in his first season, working primarily with the team’s offense.

He just moonlights with the Iowa Heartlanders. Successfully, it must be added.

The 37 year old has played twice this ECHL season as a temporary, emergency fill-in forward. The first time was New Year’s Eve against the Fort Wayne Komets in Indiana, the second last Sunday against the Indy Fuel, also in Indiana, when he scored a goal.

Those were the first competitive games for him since the 2017-18 season, when he played for the Reading Royals of the ECHL.

Four years between games? Meh, no big deal.

“The first time was a little bit different, and I didn’t know anybody,” Whitmore said. “Here’s this 37 year old walking in. I think I’m still in pretty decent shape, but I don’t know (what) the guys expected. Then I ended up playing a lot, and I thought pretty well in Fort Wayne that night. Unfortunately we lost the game.”

The pandemic has created a dearth of players in professional hockey this season. When National Hockey League guys go on the shelf, they are replaced with guys from the American Hockey League, the top minor league.

The NHL actually recently instituted a taxi squad of players from the AHL, who practice with teams and are at the ready in case they are needed. Because of all that, or when AHL players miss time due to COVID or injury, clubs reach down to the ECHL for replacements.

It’s a trickle-down effect, and that’s what happened in Whitmore’s case.

The Heartlanders had a couple of guys called up to the AHL’s Iowa Wild while they were on the road. Whitmore is friends with Heartlanders assistant coach Derek Damon, and that initiated things.

Since Whitmore’s Steel weren’t playing, he drove to Fort Wayne to meet the Heartlanders, started the game, played a whopping 23 minutes and saw time on the Heartlanders’ special teams units. Pretty incredible.

The same scenario played out again last week. Two guys got called up to the AHL, the Heartlanders needed someone, the Steel weren’t playing, so Whitmore made the drive from the Chicago suburbs to Indianapolis.

He ended up scoring the first of two goals for the Heartlanders in a 2-1 win, a beauty of a backhand off a forehand-backhand move in front.

“When I came back to Indy last weekend, the guys were like ‘Hey, Whit. Welcome back. Good to see you.’ They were all excited,” he said. “Then obviously we got the big win and got four out of six points (on the road trip), which was huge. It was a really good vibe, a really good feeling after the game. It was nice to celebrate with the boys ... They were really happy for me when I scored that goal.”

Whitmore played in the USHL for Waterloo and Lincoln, played four years collegiately at Bowling Green, then began a 10-year pro career that saw him play abroad in Germany and Austria. Oh, and the NHL.

He got in two games for the Buffalo Sabres in 2011-12. For a Rochester, N.Y., native, playing for the Sabres and in the AHL for his hometown Rochester Americans was incredible for him.

“It was a long time ago, but it’s something I’ll never forget,” he said. “Obviously being from Rochester, I was very fortunate to play for my two favorite professional teams, with the Rochester Americans and obviously the Buffalo Sabres. Putting on that Sabres jersey for the first time, getting called up, I was only in the NHL for four days, between Ottawa and Toronto. But it’s something that I’ll never forget and definitely the highlight of my playing career, for sure.

“You hear the stories about the private planes and the service and everything. We literally got on a plane in Ottawa and flew about 25 minutes to Toronto. It wasn’t the long flight, we really didn’t spend a whole lot of time on the plane. But we had a day off in Toronto, and that was great. Some of the players took me out and bought dinner for me at a nice restaurant. I got to go to the NHL Players Association store. Really tried to enjoy those four days. It was great.”

After decided to hang up his skates, Whitmore got into coaching, where he has been an assistant for the Bowdoin College women’s team and Mercyhurst University men’s team. Now it’s the USHL.

And the ECHL, if the Heartlanders ever need him again and his schedule allows.

“If it works out, yeah,” he said. “I like (head coach) Gerry (Fleming). I’d never met him before ... It’s great just being on the bench with those guys and these players that are trying to make it, doing what I was very fortunate enough to do for 10 years. Anytime you can be a resource or help that next generation, I’m all for it. Whether that’s in a coaching aspect or a player aspect. I love it. I love this team. Like I said, I’m still very, very blessed to be a part of hockey in some capacity.”

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