With a professional-grade arena sitting vacant and a passionate Midwest fanbase waiting, the Hawkeyes possess the perfect infrastructure to transform their club program into a Big Ten powerhouse.
It's clear that college hockey is in the midst of a massive growth phase in terms of both talent and investment. The demand is heavily outweighing the supply of teams, with the biggest obstacle for many institutions being infrastructure. However, that isn't the case for the University of Iowa.
On Sept. 17, 2020, Xtream Arena opened in Coralvile, IA just over five miles away from Iowa's campus with a 5,100 fixed seat (6,600 concert) capacity. It was home to the ECHL's Iowa Heartlanders from 2021-26 before the franchise went dormant ahead of this coming season.
"Despite significant efforts to stabilize and strengthen the organization, we concluded that stepping back for a season is the most responsible course while we review long-term solutions," said Heartlanders owner Michael Devlin. "As stewards of the franchise, we believe this step gives the organization the best opportunity to return on a stronger and more sustainable footing.”
Iowa Heartlanders players, from left, Tyler Busch, Bo Hanson, Yuki Miura, Nolan Orzeck and Alec Broetzman (27) celebrate a goal by Hanson during a ECHL hockey game against the Toledo Walleye, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORKFollowing the Mar. 9 announcement, there has been no further update as to the Heartlanders' future for 2027-28 and beyond. As of the time of publication, Xtream Arena serves as the home of Iowa's Volleyball team
Even without a team at Xtream Arena, the Hawkeyes have a thriving ACHA (Club) Hockey program. In fact the women's team recently joined the ACHA starting with the 2024-25 campaign. Both squads play out of BodyArmor Ice Arena, the Heartlenders' former practice facility I worked with Hawkeye Defenseman Nate Cohen during his days on the NA3HL's West Bend Power.
"Playing club has been a lot of fun," Cohen said, "We don’t get a ton of help from the school, so everything has been built from the players consistently buying in and keeping it going every year. Still, we get a decent showing from Iowa fans, friends and family."
As it stands, there are not enough Division I teams for the amount of eligible high caliber athletes. The Big Ten already has Iowa as a member school in every other sport so folding the Hawkeyes into Big Ten Hockey would be far from an enormous undertaking. Having an existing stadium with professional level facilities bypasses the most expensive hurdle for an institution entering college hockey.
Cohen elaborated on the demographics of both the university and the team as a whole Club is mainly run by the players we have a lot of guys from around the midwest that love playing," Cohen explained. "There are so many people here from Illinois and Minnesota that would love to have a team here."
With all of that said, it begs the question: Why in the world hasn't the University of Iowa at least explored the possibility of Division I Hockey. Illinois did so with the backing of the NHL and Chicago Blackhawks before COVID hit.The city of Coralvile had its bond rating lowered as a result of building and helping to finance Xtream Arena, so there is a massive incentive to repay the loans taken out. This could easily be achieved by bringing NCAA Hockey to Iowa City.
As Kevin Costner so eloquently stated in the 1989 classic Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." Hawkeye students continue to attend every iteration of hockey in Iowa City. Xtream Arena has been in operation going on over six years this fall and students come out in droves for all sorts of events. It's in the best interest of both Coralvile and the University to capitalize on the continuing growth phase of college hockey.
