On Thursday, the City of Coralville and Xtream Arena officially announced the name of their ECHL franchise. Going forward, the Iowa Corridor’s ECHL team will be known as the Iowa Heartlanders.

The team’s logo features a white-tailed deer, outlined in Black, Gold, and Gray colors.

“We captured a lot of feedback from the community and wanted to make sure we had something that resonated on both a local and regional basis,” Heartlanders President Brian McKenna said. “We’ve taken a lot of that information into account. The name itself, Heartlanders, implies all the way back to the days of settlers — hard work, determination, and heart. To modern day Iowa, in terms of the work ethic that we see here in the community.”

“The colors, of course, should be very familiar,” McKenna added. “Black and Gold, a local tradition. We’ve added gray for a little sense of grit and edge.”

The ECHL — known as the East Coast Hockey League until it began to go by its acronym exclusively in 2003 — is the United States’ only Double-A hockey league. In the ECHL, the Heartlanders will compete against the likes of the Florida Everblades, the Idaho Steelheads, and the Toledo Walleye.

Per McKenna — a former ECHL commissioner himself — over 700 ECHL players have gone on to compete in the National Hockey League.

The ECHL regular season typically spans about 72 games. The Heartlanders will open the 2021-22 season Oct. 22 at Xtream Arena against the Kansas City Mavericks.

The Heartlanders have yet to officially announce their NHL affiliate. McKenna told The Daily Iowan that the Heartlanders will reveal their NHL affiliate in two or three weeks at the earliest.

The Heartlanders still have yet to name a head coach or sign any players to their roster.

“Well, immediately after this, we’ll begin more of our work with regard to nailing down the details with our NHL and [American Hockey League] affiliate,” McKenna said. “The hiring of a coach won’t be too far down the road as well. It’ll be mid-July, at least, before we start to sign players, and then from there, you’re only a few weeks away from training camp and opening night. So, lots to do on that front. Up until now, it’s been more about the marketing and the branding, now we get a lot more into the hockey side of the operation from here on out.”

McKenna said the Heartlanders will fill their roster with seven or eight players provided to them by their NHL affiliate. The Heartlanders will then sign another 12 or 13 players directly to their roster via ECHL contracts.

Per Coralville Mayor John Lundell, the majority of the Heartlanders’ practices will be held at Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville.

The Heartlanders are currently slated to play 32 home games at Xtream Arena in 2021-22.

“Early in the planning process, we were just dreaming of some of the uses and tenants of this building,” Lundell said. “We quickly learned that hockey was probably at the top of the list as a sport that had a huge community following that wasn’t met. So, we were able to quickly identify hockey as the sport that we wanted to find a tenant for to occupy the space. We’re just so happy to have selected this team with the ECHL, and I think it’s going to be a real home run.”