Iowa starts 4-game road trip Wednesday at KC

Independence, MO – The Iowa Heartlanders, proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild, seek their second straight win and oppose the Kansas City Mavericks Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. The Heartlanders are coming off a 2-1 overtime win on Teddy Bear Toss night Saturday at Xtream Arena. Logan Nelson made the bears fly, Yuki Miura tallied the winning goal on the first shot of overtime and Corbin Kaczperski made 32 saves for his fourth win of the campaign.Wednesday is the first of four straight at the Mavericks, a weird scheduling quirk in which Iowa and Kansas City face off in four straight games at Cable Dahmer Arena. The teams play Dec. 21, Dec. 23, Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 in Independence.Iowa is 6-10-6-1 (19 points), four behind Wheeling for sixth and six back of third place. First-place Indy is at 35 points.The games this week on Wednesday and Friday are Iowa’s last two before the ECHL holiday break.The Mavericks have dropped back to back games and nine of their last ten (1-6-2-0), but because of a strong start remain one point back of the final Mountain Division playoff spot at 9-10-3-0 (21 points). Their last win came on Dec. 13 at home vs. Tulsa off a Cole Coskey game-winning strike.Iowa is 1-1-0-0 in the nine-game season series vs. the Mavericks and the Heartlanders overcame a 3-0 deficit last time against Kansas City to win, 5-3, on Nov. 30.Broadcast Coverage: Watch online at flohockey.tv. Listen on mixlr.com/goheartlanders.Affiliates: Iowa Heartlanders (Minnesota Wild/Iowa Wild) | Kansas City Mavericks (Seattle Kraken/Coachella Valley Firebirds)Heartlanders win another one-goal gameThe Heartlanders have won six games this regular season and three have been by one goal, all home overtime victories. Saturday’s 2-1 win over Kalamazoo marked the first time Iowa won a one goal game and did not trail in regulation.The victory Saturday was also the first time Iowa won a game this year when scoring two or fewer goals. Iowa has won four games in team history when scoring once or twice and Corbin Kaczperski has been in net for three of those (Jan. 2022 vs. Indy, Jan. 2022 vs. Wheeling, Dec. 2022 vs. Kalamazoo).Iowa is 3-0 in home games decided in OT this season.Scouting the Landers Michael Pastujov leads active Heartlanders with 12 assists and 16 points. Cole Stallard is best on the squad with nine goals (13 points) and also leads Iowa with four fighting majors this season.In last week’s three-game series vs. Kalamazoo, Hunter Jones won his first game of the season in a Wednesday morning game and Corbin Kaczperski advanced to 4-1-0-1 on the season (3.04 GAA, .893 sv. %) in victory Saturday.Tyler Busch has scored seven points (3g) over his last four games and assisted the Yuki Miura overtime winner Saturday, rising to third on the squad with 15 points (4g).Iowa has scored 30 of the team’s 69 goals in the second period and carries a +10 goal differential (30 GF/20 GA) in the middle frame this campaign.Scouting Kansas City Despite losing nine of ten entering Wednesday’s game, Kansas City has points in two of the last four (1-2-1-0) to stay ahead of Tulsa for fifth in the Mountain Division.Jeremy McKenna ranks 10th in the league with 26 points (12g). He, Tristan Mullin (11g) and Cole Coskey (10g) have all hit double-digit goals and Nick Pastujov is one away from reaching ten this season. That means that quarter has tallied 42 of the team’s 74 goals this season (56.7%). Netminder Shane Starrett tops the team with five wins, a 2.90 goals-against average and .904 save percentage.Upcoming home games and ticket informationView the team’s full promotional schedule at iowaheartlanders.com/promotions. The Heartlanders are next at home to face the Indy Fuel in a three-game series beginning Wednesday, January 4 at 7:05 p.m. The second game of the three-game set is Friday, January 6 at 7:05 p.m. On Saturday, January 7 at 7:05 p.m., the Heartlanders are embracing camo, hunting & the outdoors on Mossy Oak Night, featuring the first-ever bobblehead giveaway (first 500 fans) and special Mossy Oak jerseys, pres. by DASH Auctions. Wear camo for chance to win in-game prizes and call the Iowa Heartlanders ticket off for a special Camo Hat Ticket Package at 319-569-=.Single-game tickets, group ticket options, partial plans and season ticket memberships are available for Heartlanders home games at Xtream Arena.  Call 319-569-or visit iowaheartlanders.com/tickets for more information.