Iowa Heartlanders

[Neill99]

Does anyone know when the Heartlanders are going to start signing players?.

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[JMCx4]

Their head coach was hired less than 2 weeks ago, and his assistant was hired less than a week ago. Give it time, and don't expect player signing announcements before the ink dries.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Heartlanders unveil their jerseys:

 

[JMCx4]

From the announcement: “The jersey design is emblematic of the Heartlanders’ strength and determination to run the game ..." More eloquent words were never uttered by a new minor league hockey team's President & CEO.

 

[JMCx4]

The JMCs attended our first two Heartlanders home games this past weekend, a 1-1 split for Iowa in tight scoring games vs. Indy & K'zoo. Very impressed by the Xtream Arena layout and aesthetics (I'll post some photos once I get back home), and by the enthusiasm and friendliness of the team & arena staff. Tough weekend for drawing crowds, with a Hawkeyes home football game on campus and college basketball season plus high school football peaking. But the sports fans who did choose hockey were clearly enthusiastic, and the in-game entertainment staff showed they have a solid formula & knack for keeping fans engaged.

The only negatives from this hockey fan's perspective were parking related (arena location within the Iowa River Landing mixed-use complex is still confusing to visitors & arena/team staff), and seating related (very narrow seats within the single bowl, and designated & sold ADA seating spots have been taken over by video camera equipment). Hopefully the team & Xtream can work out the workable kinks in those areas, before what I hope is the post-Christmas rush for more Iowa City area sports fans to become acqainted with the new game in town.

 

[JMCx4]

A few pix from Xtream Arena in Coralville. I'll add a link in this post once I get the remainder of my gameday(s) photos uploaded to my public Flickr account.

ETA: Photo collection from Nov. 12 & 14 Heartlanders home games. NOT my best work (old men & smartphones were never meant to be partners), but you get the picture(s).

 

[royals119]

Those random yellow seats would drive me nuts. I like the idea of breaking up the sea of brown (or black), but I would have put them in some kind of pattern instead of just here and there for no apparent reason.

 

[JMCx4]

Those random yellow seats would drive me nuts. I like the idea of breaking up the sea of brown (or black), but I would have put them in some kind of pattern instead of just here and there for no apparent reason.

We sat in center ice ADA seats at the top of the single bown for the second game, so I spent some time trying to figger out if the yellow seats made some recognizable pattern on the opposite side. No luck.

ETA: This Iowa City Press-Citizen photo article simply reports: "There are 5,100 seats, 500 of which are yellow." Maybe ArenaCo got a discount for mismatched furniture.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Iowa signs Yuki Miura