Iowa Heartlanders play-by-play broadcaster David Fine gets ECHL All-Star Game nod

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Iowa Heartlanders didn’t have any players at Monday night’s 2026 Warriors/ECHL All-Star Classic. But they were represented.

Play-by-play man David Fine helped broadcast the event on NHL Network. The game and a skills competition were to be held in Allen, Texas, home of the ECHL’s Allen Americans.

“It's surreal to think about it, because, honestly, this team didn't exist five years ago,” said Fine, who has been part of the Heartlanders organization since its inception five years ago. “So to be able to go down there and represent the team in a unique way that is not a playing capacity is cool.”

Fine was to be joined on the broadcast with Tommy Daniels of the Allen Americans and Jason Mals of the Wichita Thunder. They were all selected by the ECHL.

“It's always special to be recognized by the league, because there's some really good voices and broadcasters in this league that have gone on to higher leagues that are still in this league,” Fine said. “It's really neat to have the league say ‘Hey, we want you to be one of the three guys that puts our best foot forward on the NHL Network.’ So that's what it means to me.”

Fine is a New Jersey native who graduated from Syracuse University. He interned with baseball’s Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League, then began his career as broadcaster for the United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm.

He then moved to the ECHL’s Reading Royals until the COVID pandemic in 2020. He had a connection with the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL, which provided him an “in” for the Heartlanders job.

Newfoundland and Iowa originally had the same ownership.

Fine grew up a big New Jersey Devils fans, his hockey fandom cinched in the early 2000s when his mother took him to a nearby bagel shop for breakfast at the exact same time Devils player Jim McKenzie was making a coincidental appearance at the shop with the Stanley Cup. Players of the winning team each season get one day with the Cup and can take it anywhere.

As part of McKenzie’s Cup day, he took it to the bagel shop, because it was a place he frequented before games.

“Everyone views it differently, but I have always found baseball and football to be harder to broadcast than the other sports I've done: basketball, lacrosse and hockey,” Fine said. “I like the continuous action. It keeps you in the flow of the game, and I like that you're able to use your creativity and your voice as an instrument to really dictate the importance of the (action).

“In the words you use in baseball, there's only so many ways you can say ”And here's the pitch.’ In hockey, there's a lot of ways you can say a puck was dumped in, a puck was fluttered in, you know, is swept in. I like that. You can really vary it up ... I feel like hockey really gives you the chance to show off your personality on the air in your play by play.“

The Heartlanders have a 10-23-2-0 record for 22 standings points, last in the ECHL. They did pick up a huge win Saturday night at Xtream Arena over Toledo, 3-2, in a shootout.

Brandon Schultz was the only successful shootout shooter for Iowa. The Heartlanders lost Friday night to Toledo, 4-3, and Wednesday night to Kalamazoo, 3-2.

Iowa is in Florida this weekend, playing a game Friday night at Orlando and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Jacksonville.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders

It was an ECHL-like three-in-three weekend for the RoughRiders, who ended up winning two games.

Friday night was the exception, a 3-2 loss at Chicago. Cedar Rapids fell behind 3-0 early in the second period, getting goals from Grant Young and Justin Graf, not quite able to complete a comeback.

The RoughRiders rebounded Saturday night with a 2-1 win at home against Waterloo. Sullivan Miller’s goal with 1:50 left was the game winner.

Nick Romeo had a hat trick Sunday in a 7-2 blowout of Dubuque at ImOn Ice Arena. Romeo also had an assist in the game against his old USHL team.

Braiden Scuderi added a goal and two assists for C.R., which has a 19-10-2-4 record and 44 standings points, good for fifth place in an immensely good Eastern Conference. Graf, forward David Bosco and goaltender Ryan Cameron played last week in the 2026 Chipotle All-American Game in Plymouth, Mich.

The game featured the top USHL players eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft in the summer. The RoughRiders host the United States National Team Development U18 team this weekend, with 7:05 p.m. opening faceoffs Friday and Saturday nights.

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