Heartlanders seek sweet end to calendar year

Rapid City, SD – The Iowa Heartlanders, proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild, end the calendar year with the season-series finale at the Rapid City Rush Sunday at 8:05 p.m. The Heartlanders are playing the third game of a seven-game road trip, the team’s second-longest road trip of the regular season. 

Iowa out shot Rapid City, 39-23, in Saturday’s 3-2 loss. The Rush scored three goals in a 2:47 span to beat the Heartlanders by one. 

Iowa continues the road trip next Saturday and Sunday at Fort Wayne.

Get tickets for Heartlanders Home games: Iowaheartlanders.com/tickets

Game Day Guide: 

7:50 PM: FloHockey broadcast and audio broadcast starts.

8:05 PM: Puck Drop 

Watch on FloHockey: https://flosports.link/3tVsLmd

Listen on Mixlr: mixlr.com/goheartlanders

 

Need to know
- The Heartlanders have out shot Rapid City in all four games of the season series but are winless (0-3-1-0).

- The Heartlanders are nine-for-nine on the penalty kill this weekend.

- Casey Dornbach registered two assists Saturday and has 11 helpers and 14 points in 18 games this season.

Affiliates: Iowa Heartlanders (Minnesota Wild/Iowa Wild) | Rapid City Rush (Calgary Flames/Calgary Wranglers)

All-time series 

The Heartlanders and Rush have played seven times ever and Iowa is 2-4-1-0 ever against the Rush. 

The teams played three times in Rapid City Jan. 7-9, 2022 and the Landers won two of the three games. On Jan. 8, Bryce Misley registered the Heartlanders first-ever overtime-winning goal. The next game, despite playing with only three listed defensemen, Iowa set a team record with nine goals in a 9-1 win. Jake Smith recorded Iowa’s first-ever hat trick and Billy Constantinou set a Heartlanders record with four assists. Notably in that series, forwards Zach White and Zach Remers took shifts on the blue line to help the three healthy blueliners. 

Entering this week, Peyton Jones was the only active Iowa player to have ever played at The Monument.

Road trip update 

The Heartlanders have traveled about 720 miles so far on the team’s seven-game road trip. The trip continues at Fort Wayne next Saturday and wraps up in Tulsa the week after. This seven-game road trip encompasses just over 3,300 miles of mileage for the Heartlanders. Upon the conclusion of that trip, Iowa will have played 17 of 23 games on the road and 21 of the team’s 36 road games this season. 

Despite all that road time, the fruits of it will come over the final three months of the season. From Feb. 7 – Apr. 13, the season’s final two months, Iowa plays 19 of its final 29 at home (and 12 of its final 15). 

Next up
The Heartlanders are at Rapid City Sun., Dec. 31 at 8:05 p.m. Iowa continues a seven-game road trip with back-to-back games at Fort Wayne Sat., Jan. 6 at 6:30 p.m. and Sun., Jan. 7 at 4:00 p.m.

Iowa is next at home Mon., Jan. 15 at 2:05 p.m. vs. Cincinnati – schools are off for the day and bring your kids out for a great day at Xtream Arena.

The team continues a three-game homestand vs. Wheeling on Fri., Jan. 19 at 6:35 p.m. on Affiliation Night presented by DASH Auctions, celebrating Iowa’s proud affiliation with the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild. On Sat., Jan. 20 at 6:05 p.m. against Wheeling, the Heartlanders are back at Xtream Arena for Dash’s Birthday Party, presented by Paul Park Real Estate. Join the Heartlanders mascot Dash and dozens of his mascot friends for a family-friendly Saturday night at Xtream Arena.

Rose Club Memberships & Tickets Now Available For 2023-24 Season
Rose Club Season Ticket Memberships, Partial Plans, Mini-Plans, Flex Tickets and Single-Game Tickets are now available for the 2023-24 season, the Heartlanders’ third in the ECHL. Call 319-569-GOAL or visit iowaheartlanders.com/tickets for more information.