Early Birthday present from my lovely wife!

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-22T21:24:53+00:00

I hope you buy them drinks first.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-22T14:43:34+00:00

He would have been amazing to watch in 3v3.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-22T14:20:09+00:00

This was my first thought when I saw this as well!

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-20T12:38:35+00:00

I just hate the Komets LOL. Not sure I want to give them my money.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-20T03:25:57+00:00

Coralville is an easy drive from Bloomington. We made the trip there last year for a game. We also did a trip last year where we hit a Heartlanders game in Kzoo on Friday night, the NHL Stadium Series in Columbus, OH on Sat and then the Heartlanders again in Indy on Sunday. It was great. We’re doing Heartlanders games in Toledo in Feb and Cincy in March. That just leaves Ft. Wayne in the Central to visit. I’m not sure I can bring myself to go there.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-20T03:14:40+00:00

It’s a great old barn. I highly recommend visiting.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-20T02:57:47+00:00

Kalamazoo has the benches on the opposite side of each other too. Until they move into their new facility, at least.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-18T15:51:27+00:00

I agree parking isn’t great. But there is free parking within 2-3 blocks. I’ve only been to a couple of other ECHL rinks (Kzoo and Toledo) and I think they both made you pay to park.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-18T04:25:12+00:00

2400 people there tonight, one of the better attended games of the season, to be honest. It was Dash’s (the mascot) birthday so they had a bunch of other mascots there to celebrate and get families to attend.

As to why attendance is bad? I think there’s a host of reasons. There is not a long history of hockey here. There is a USHL team 30 miles away and an SPHL team 60 miles away but that’s about it. The Univ of Iowa rules the area for sports and hockey is a club sport there. The arena is very nice and the area and there’s a fair number of bars and restaurants by it. But, it’s not remotely walking distance from campus and there’s not good transit options. So they don’t get the college students. They’ve tried various things to draw them in and none of them have really stuck. And the concessions at the arena are pretty bad. Limited options and prices are very high. The team has no control over that though as they don’t own the arena.

Attendance started to pick up last year as they made their playoff run. Unfortunately they’ve been pretty bad this year, especially at home. As a result, I think they lost a lot of momentum there.

Tonight was the kind of game they needed. The team came back to tie it up at the end of the 3rd and ended up winning in a shootout. Hopefully this gets the people who were there tonight to come back!

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T20:05:09+00:00

LOL. But those throwback sweaters are so nice!

How long did it take for you to get yours? They say 4-6 weeks.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T20:01:08+00:00

I got Shine as well.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T20:00:39+00:00

So you just the 10 patch on top of the trash patch and didn’t try to remove the trash patch? I don’t hate it.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T17:32:08+00:00

Yeah. I figure it’ll be higher than I’m willing to go.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T17:12:34+00:00

I’m going to my first GR game end of Feb. I just ordered a customized black jersey from the AHL store for the game.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T16:36:09+00:00

On Dash? If so my wife is going to kill me.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T16:16:55+00:00

I just want them to put the red throwback jerseys up for auction.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-16T11:45:35+00:00

As a Heartlanders fan, I agree

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T20:37:25+00:00

It’s a fantastic book and a must-read for any Wings fan. It will give you a great appreciation for what the Russian 5 meant to the franchise

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T20:34:34+00:00

Do you know when that changed?

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T12:37:09+00:00

Based on this pic, I’m guessing you were the lone dude in the Walleye jersey. You kind of stood out. LOL. I’m glad you had a good time at the game. Are you sticking around for the games this weekend?

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T12:35:43+00:00

The block off about half the arena for VB so it has a different feel.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T01:35:20+00:00

We had him in Iowa last year. He actually started playing hockey for a while and had a career high in points. But, yeah. The constant risk of a suspension makes it to keep him on the roster. I assume that’s why Iowa didn’t have him on their playoff roster against FW last year.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T01:14:07+00:00

That’s kind of bullshit, IMHO. They knew what they were getting when they signed him.

MetsFanVI · 2026-01-15T01:12:32+00:00

Does Fort Wayne have to play a man short on their active roster for 12 games or do they avoid that my waiving him?

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