The Iowa Heartlanders will embark on a four-game, five-day road trip this week, and head coach Gerry Fleming isn’t concerned about the hard-hitting schedule.

“Routine,” Fleming said. “It’ll be good. Play some hockey. We’ve had some success on the road in the second half of the season, so we’re going to go there and take care of business.”

The 27-27-7-1 Heartlanders will take on the Kalamazoo Wings on Wednesday before heading down to face the Cincinnati Cyclones on Friday and Saturday. Iowa will trek to the Indy Fuel for a Sunday meeting to wrap up their penultimate road trip of the 2021-22 regular season.

Iowa is 13-14-2-0 outside of Xtream Arena.

The Heartlanders added two collegiate defensemen, Ryan Wheeler and Jake Stevens, in the past week. The duo got their first taste of professional hockey in the Heartlanders’ series against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

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Wheeler signed a contract with the Heartlanders on March 24 after suiting up for the University of Connecticut from 2018-22. He made his professional hockey debut the next day. In his first two games, he has recorded one assist.

“Everyone can play on this team,” Wheeler said. “Like, up and down the lineup, every guy just plays with so much pace, so much tenacity. It’s honestly good to join and they’ve welcomed me with open arms, so I’m excited to get going with these guys.”

The left-handed shooter’s first visit to Iowa was last week. But the 24-year-old from Lancaster, New York, found someone he could connect to almost immediately. His roommate, Heartlanders defenseman Alex Carlson, grew up in Lakewood, New York — about 80 miles from Lancaster.

Stevens is much more familiar with eastern Iowa. He grew up in Naperville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and his sister attended the University of Iowa 10 years ago.

Stevens signed an amateur tryout contract with the Heartlanders on March 26. Under that agreement, the right-handed shooter can stay with the Heartlanders for five games or 10 days, whichever comes first. Then, the Heartlanders can resign or release him.

“It was kind of a blur, just because I got here pretty late the night before and turned around and played right away,” Stevens said regarding his first ECHL contest on March 26. “It was a lot to take in, pretty good crowd, close, important divisional game. So, it was a lot, but I had fun, and it could have been worse.”

Stevens played at St. Lawrence University for four seasons. He transferred to Long Island University for his fifth season before turning to the professional game.

In his five seasons of collegiate hockey, he totaled 11 goals and 46 assists. Four goals and 13 assists came in his final season when he was an alternate captain for the Sharks. Stevens said if he didn’t have an extra year of eligibility — the NCAA granted all 2020-21 student athletes another season because of COVID-19 — he probably would have tried to play in the ECHL at the start of 2021-22.

Wheeler and Stevens joined the Heartlanders with 10 games left in the regular season. Iowa is mathematically alive in the 2022 Kelly Cup Playoff chase, as they are five points back of the fourth and final playoff spot in the ECHL Central Division.

“We’re just going to keep hunting until we’re dead,” Fleming said. “That’s all we do. Same thing as all year. We focus on the daily process of making ourselves better, and that’s been our focus all year, and that’s going to continue to be our focus.”