Are you an established hockey fan? Or, perhaps, you’re a die-hard college football fan who needs something to do on the dreaded off-days. Or maybe you’re just an Iowan who can appreciate a beautiful logo and team design.
If any of these statements even partially apply to you, please allow me to introduce you to the new kids on the hockey block, the Iowa Heartlanders.
The Heartlanders are a brand-spanking-new ECHL team whose home ice will be at the new Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. These new boys in town are an affiliate team of the AHL Iowa Wild. If you haven’t heard of them yet, there’s a possibility you might’ve happened upon their logo floating around the Twitter-sphere–and let me tell you, their logo is quite a treat. The Heartlander’s main logo features a white-tailed deer and Iowa’s flower, the wild prairie rose, is used as an accent, which we can hope to see featured on the currently unreleased jersey designs. I don’t know about you, but that logo screams Iowa beauty to me. The last time I’ve felt that Iowa was truly encapsulated in a team logo was with the short-lived AHL Iowa Chops who featured an angry cartoon pig as their mascot. It was a different kind of Iowa beauty, for sure.
The new Xtream Arena is something to look forward to in itself. I remember when the plans were just announced during my first year at UI and how I was psyched that I wouldn’t be doomed to a future of watching hockey at the rink inside of the local mall to get my hockey fix. But, maybe that’s not a huge selling point for you like it was for me. That’s okay! There will be plenty more sources of entertainment offered at the Xtream Area. Along with the Heartlanders games, the Xtream Arena will be hosting the University of Iowa’s Women’s Volleyball, and numerous performers including Nelly, Tobey Keith, and Chris Young, not to mention drop-in pickleball and basketball.
The Iowa Heartlanders are going to spice up the Iowa hockey scene like no other, you can mark my word. So if you get a chance, stop by Xtream Arena and check them out for yourself. Tell them I sent you (it won’t do anything for you, but it could be fun). Or, if you’re not sold on jumping into the hockeyverse quite yet, their beautiful logo would look good on anyone–there’s no shame in supporting your local boys from afar.