Iowa Heartlanders, goaltender Peyton Jones remain on heater

CORALVILLE — In hockey parlance, it’s called being on a heater. Peyton Jones is on one.

The Iowa Heartlanders won their fourth straight game Wednesday morning, turning back the Utah Grizzlies, 3-2, before a gaggle of shrieking school kids on a pucks-filled field trip to Xtream Arena.

Jones has been the goaltender for each of those wins. The 27-year-old Pennsylvania native has given up five goals total in them, turning away 107 of 112 shots faced.

Again, a heater.

“I feel really good,” Jones said. “I had a really good summer of training, a really good camp working with Joe on a lot of little details and stuff. It’s been good. I’ve been feeling really good, and I’m confident in net.”

Joe is Heartlanders assistant coach Joe Exter. He and Jones knew of each other from college hockey, when Exter was an assistant coach in the Big Ten Conference at Michigan State and Jones was a player at Penn State.

That played a part in Jones signing with the Heartlanders in the offseason, as did knowing Richard Bachman, a former Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and NHL goalie who is goalie coach for the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild. Jones spent last season in the United Kingdom in the Elite Ice Hockey League with the Belfast Giants in Northern Ireland and the Nottingham Panthers in England.

Prior to that, he’d played in the ECHL for Utah and a handful of games in the American Hockey League for the Colorado Eagles. He played under a two-way National Hockey League deal with the Colorado Avalanche in 2020-21.

“It was awesome, a great time,” Jones said of the EIHL. “I was in Belfast and Nottingham, which were really cool spots. Both places. I got to travel a lot, went to, like, nine countries. Had a really good time over there.

“It was just a good opportunity to play here. Help this team try to win. It’s the third year now, and they haven’t been to the playoffs, yet. I want to try and be the guy to help them get there.”

He appears to be doing that.

“Richard called us probably the end of May, saying that (Jones) wanted to come back and play over here, that ‘We think he’d be a really good number six in our organization,’” said Heartlanders Coach Derek Damon. “For us to have a guy like that, who has played four years pro, who has American Hockey League experience, who had a great college career ... He’s got a lot of experience. That’s everything.”

The Heartlanders rallied Wednesday with a pair of power-play goals, including Liam Coughlin’s winner 5:27 into the third period. These teams play again Friday night at 6:35 and Saturday night at 7:05.

Iowa is 4-4-2 for 10 standings points, just two points out of first place in the ECHL’s Central Division, though both Toledo and Wheeling have games in hand.

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