Zach White: The Iowa Heartlanders’ determined, unselfish forward

At 5-foot-7, White wasn’t expecting to make the ECHL. Now, during his second year in the league, he’s doing whatever he can on and off the ice to meet expectations.

Isaac Goffin, Sports Reporter

December 13, 2022

The Iowa Heartlanders were in dire need of an extra forward before a matchup with the Toledo Walleye about a year ago.

Then-Heartlanders head coach Gerry Fleming and assistant coach Derek Damon talked to Nick Niedert, the head coach of the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Vermilion County Bobcats in Danville, Illinois. Niedert recommended they sign one of his skaters: Zach White.

Initially, Iowa wasn’t convinced White was a good option. At 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, White — who had never competed in the ECHL before — would likely be the smallest player on any given night.

In 2020-21, the right-handed shooter suited up for the Carolina Thunderbirds in the Federal Prospects Hockey League, which is two tiers below the ECHL and marks the bottom of North American professional hockey.

But the Bobcats’ coach knew White belonged in affiliated hockey, even if his resume suggested otherwise.

“I said, ‘You guys need a roster player,’” Niedert said. “‘If you don’t like him, that’s fine, whatever. Just trust me on this one.’”

So, the Heartlanders agreed to terms with White, and the Milford, Connecticut, product arrived in Coralville at about 5:30 p.m. the day before his debut.

At 5-12-2-1, the Heartlanders were an ECHL laughingstock when they signed White. Iowa suffered a humiliating 4-0 loss to the future Western Conference Champion Walleye at Xtream Arena on Dec. 8, 2021.

But the newest Heartlanders member became a hero in uplifting a struggling franchise as he delighted the crowd during his ECHL debut on Dec. 10.

Down 2-1, forward Yuki Miura found White in the near slot, and he attempted a one-timer that avoided Toledo goaltender Billy Christopoulos’ dive, tying the contest with fewer than five minutes left. Iowa won the game, 3-2, in a shootout.

“It’s always exciting to score your first goal in your first game,” White said postgame. “So, I’m just happy to be here and help the team out when I can.”

Damon served as the acting head coach that night with Fleming in health and safety protocols. Damon called Niedert soon after the final horn blared.

“He’s laughing,” Niedert said. “He’s like, ‘Whitey’s not going anywhere.’ I was like, ‘I told you.’”

With his determination on and off the ice, White has become a Heartlanders’ fan-favorite who doesn’t take a day in the ECHL for granted.

Matt Sindt

Heartlanders forward Zach White plays golf at the Brown Deer Golf Club Wednesday Nov. 9, 2022.

‘That’s why you’re at where you’re at’

On an unusually warm, 70-degree Nov. 9 sunny day, White and Heartlanders Director of Communications David Fine, who also broadcasts the games, head to the Coralville Perkins. At lunch time, the clientele is made up of senior citizens — not the Heartlanders’ target audience.

For food, White requests the Fabulous Five, which includes two bacon strips. He chooses the chocolate chip pancakes instead of toast and selects his eggs over easy.

Leading up to Nov. 9, White hadn’t had the best season. At the time, he recorded a goal and an assist through seven games, and the Heartlanders won their first 2022-23 contest three days before. He was the first skater to agree to terms with the Heartlanders ahead of their second season. Yet, on a more balanced roster, the Heartlanders sometimes put White as an extra forward like he was when he first joined the franchise.

As a center, wingers Kris Bennett and Ryan Kuffner flanked White last season. Bennett won the 2021-22 ECHL Rookie of the Year award and now competes in the top two leagues in Switzerland, while Kuffner is a former NHL skater who’s currently in Germany’s top division. It was lining up with those two that made White realize he made it in the ECHL.

“Now, I have no idea what I’m doing,” White says over his meal. “I guess I’m not doing too well, right, Fine?”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” Fine responds. “That’s why you’re at where you’re at.”

White’s mom, Dawn White, remembered when her independent son first learned to skate in West Haven, Connecticut, at 3 years old.

He was supposed to push a chair from one end of the ice to the other. Instead, White shoved the chair aside and skated on his own. The instructor told Dawn White she had a hockey player.

Timeline by Isaac Goffin/The Daily Iowan

Zach White’s current character took shape in his childhood. His mother Dawn White described Zach White as someone more concerned with others than himself.

While Zach White was in a science class sporting a white lab coat and large protective goggles, his older brother, Matthew White, sat stuck in a school bathroom stall without toilet paper. After connecting with his brother, Zach White, dressed in his science class garb, arrived at Matthew White’s stall and handed him toilet paper.

At Foran High School in Milford, Connecticut, contact sports were his passion. White was a three-letter helmeted athlete, also playing football and lacrosse. But it was Milford’s Co-op hockey program where he established his local legacy. He registered 203 points in four seasons. The No. 5 jersey he wore is now retired, and the city sitting on Long Island Sound cherished its star skater.

Dawn White said there was a big ceremony at the Milford Ice Pavilion, and the mayor proclaimed Jan. 17, 2015, as Zach White Day.

“It was very honoring,” Dawn White said. “But he’s so humble that he doesn’t like anybody to talk about it.”

White spent 2014-15 with the New York Apple Core, a junior team in the Eastern Hockey League — a far cry from the U.S. Hockey League where several Heartlanders developed.

Dawn White didn’t know what junior leagues were, so Matthew White researched the developmental league. They realized if White wanted to play at a higher level, juniors were the next step.

Unlike in football and basketball, hockey players tend to compete in junior leagues between high school and college, and it’s common to see 20-year-old freshman in NCAA hockey.

After his one season with the Apple Core, Zach White was interested in Curry College — a NCAA Division III school outside Boston. But Curry head coach T.J. Manastersky told White he was short and didn’t think he could make college hockey, Dawn White said.

But White was persistent — he still liked Curry because his cousin went there. So, White talked to Manastersky again, who allowed him to try out. He made the program and ended his time there as its captain.

White continued his run as a multi-sport athlete and played lacrosse at Curry, where he was also a captain. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2019, and the college selected him as its male athlete of the year.

Zach White then embarked on his professional journey at 23-years-old. He started with a two-game stint under the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen to end the 2018-19 campaign. Then, he flew to France to compete in the country’s second division with Cholet in 2019-20.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced White to return to the U.S. With some minor league clubs not facing off in 2020-21 and without an agent, he settled for the Thunderbirds in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“It’s a prison league down there,” Zach White said of the FPHL. “Not joking. You can get away with anything. Slash, hit from behind, they really don’t give a s—.”

Unlike in the ECHL, where rookies make at least $510 a week, White was earning $120 a week down in the FPHL with limited per diem. There’s no union representing FPHL athletes, some arenas seat less than 3,000, and The News-Times reported in 2016 the league’s weekly salary cap was $4,400 to cover 18 players.

With the Thunderbirds’ home ice unavailable, all their games were on the road. So, Zach White rode a dented bus he said broke down six times between Elmira, New York, and Winston-Salem on the first road trip. The bus’ bed slots were designated in three rows of shelving racks like the ones sold at Home Depot, and the mattresses were put on top of plywood.

Despite the grueling circumstances, Zach White notched eight goals and eight assists in 20 contests. The small skater didn’t surrender his goal of moving up in the hockey world, though he thought he wouldn’t make the ECHL. Typically, ECHL skaters come from a reputable NCAA Division I or Canadian U Sports program. Some are NHL draft picks expected to make hockey’s top circuit.

Map by Isaac Goffin/The Daily Iowan

“I think I knew I had more to give, more so than anything, right?” Zach White said. “I was doing well, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you can move up, you’re a good player.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know, we’ll see what happens,’ and then you get an opportunity and then here you are. Just kind of caught a break for a little bit.”

‘It’s easy to love that your kid wants to be just like Zach’

Matt Sindt

Iowa forward Zach White races for the puck during a hockey game at Xtream Arena in Coralville on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. The Idaho Steelheads defeated The Iowa Heartlanders, 6-2.

‘It’s easy to love that your kid wants to be just like Zach’

When Damon called White for the first time a year ago, he said the Heartlanders needed a goal scorer. White replied he didn’t know if he could score in the ECHL — but he found out the answer in his first game.

“He gives you everything he’s got every day,” Damon said, who now serves as Iowa’s head coach. “That’s the best part about Whitey is he’s a great guy to have in the locker room. He fit in well last year with Kuff and Benny, and he’s finding his way this year.”

Though White isn’t a Heartlanders captain or alternate captain, Iowa defenseman Riese Zmolek mentioned the 27-year-old is a leader in the locker room, bringing good energy and spirit every day. Heartlanders defenseman Kevin McKernan sees White as an outgoing guy.

“He’s always chatting and talking and joking,” McKernan said. “So, that’s the best thing you can have in the locker room, and he works very hard. He’s a good little role model for everyone else.”

When one of White’s teammates was cut in 2022-23, he didn’t see it as another transaction. Instead, White followed through on the characteristics he’s possessed since his childhood. He called his mother to tell her he felt bad for the released player and needed to take him out to dinner.

Zmolek noted the 5-foot-7 forward doesn’t play to his size and is willing to be physical. The average Heartlander is 6-foot-1.

“He’s quick, fast,” Zmolek said. “He’s a good playmaker. He’s always around the puck.”

When White matched up against the Kansas City Mavericks on Dec. 27, 2021, he recorded a Gordie Hawk hat trick — a goal, an assist, and a fight.

Contributed photo of Zach White at Cole Gugliano’s seventh birthday party. Gugliano’s father, David, is the team’s dentist.

“I haven’t had many fights, but the ones I’ve been into, it’s a little nerve racking seeing as I’m a smaller guy,” White said that night. “It was fun. It’s good energy. I know the boys like it when the small guy fights.”

It’s not just with hockey players White makes a positive connection. When Backpocket Brewing — a brewery across the street from Xtream Arena — hosted a meet and greet event with Heartlanders players and hockey operations staff, White made himself comfortable with multiple fans. If the franchise has an event at a local Pizza Ranch, White shows up.

Emily Meyer, who claims she is White’s biggest fan, talked to him multiple times last season at Backpocket Brewing after games. She said White made it easy for her and her husband to learn the game of hockey as new fans.

“Sometimes with athletes, they kind of have a cocky attitude, but I really don’t get that from him,” Meyer said. “He’s just really down to earth and I think especially for Iowa, Iowa kind of embodies that. So, I think he fits right in.”

Contributed photo of Zach White greeting fans after a game.

The franchise’s dentist, David Gugliano, invited Dash — the Heartlanders’ deer mascot — to his son Cole’s birthday party during training camp. While White wasn’t required to show up, he still did because he wanted to give back to young fans.

“My son asked me if he could be like Zach White when he grew up,” Gugliano wrote to The Daily Iowan. “And honestly, you look at everything Zach is on and off the ice, and it’s easy to love that your kid wants to be just like Zach.”

Now as the SPHL’s Macon Mayhems bench boss, Niedert checks Iowa’s box score every game to see how White performed. They touch base when they can throughout the season.

“Zach did so much stuff I was doing when I was a player,” Niedert said. “Just being there for the teammates and team-first mentality. He really gets it. He really gives a s— about his teammates. That being said, that’s why I was pushing so hard for him to get an opportunity at the next level, because he does all the right things. He’s a go-getter. He deserves everything he’s gotten.”

The ECHL may be the end of the road for White — he’s unlikely to progress to a more prestigious league. He’s planning to marry his fiancé, Gabi Marhoffer, in 2023. Dawn White said her son was considering becoming a Massachusetts state trooper after college, though White isn’t sure if he wants to join law enforcement yet.

Instead, the skater who was told he would never make it in hockey suggested he may try to become a coach whenever he steps off the ice the last time as a professional. Over the offseason, he earned extra cash by working with children on their skating.

“It’s just that you get so used to a routine and a schedule, and I love that,” White said. “To get away from that, it gives me anxiety.”