UI men to play club hockey at ImOn Ice Arena
Hunter
02/14/20
The University of Iowa men’s club Hockey team has announced that they have come to a two-year agreement to play their games at the ImOn Ice Arena in Cedar Rapids.
Head Coach Kevin Brooks tells KCRG TV that even though the arena is much farther away than the Xtream Arena being built in Coralville, the facility was not able to offer them a locker room. Captain Jake Vanetti tells the station, “We can’t travel with four bags and a car, especially with freshmen on the team who don’t have a car here yet, it just makes the most sense.”
Having an arena will allow the team to start selling tickets, which was impossible at their current home, Coral Ridge Mall.
Xtreme Arena will have two locker rooms; one is reserved for the Iowa volleyball team who will play all their home games there. The other is earmarked for a minor league hockey team. Although no deals have been made for that yet, Iowa Events Center General Manager Chris Connolly believes that they will be able to announce partnership with a hockey team at Xtream Arena soon.
The club hockey team will share the ice with the minor-league Cedar Rapids Roughriders, who play 30 home games a year.
Iowa’s men’s and women’s club hockey teams have been playing at Coral Ridge Mall since it was built in 1998.
