As they kick off their fifth ECHL season, the Iowa Heartlanders are looking to deepen their connections with their community and their fans with a pair of new specialty jerseys for 2025-26.
The team based in Coralville, Iowa, unveiled the jerseys last week and started taking pre-orders for them on their website. One will be worn for three home games throughout the 2025-26 season, while the team didn’t specify how often the other would be worn, only saying it would make its debut in the Heartlanders’ home opener on Friday, October 17.
First up is the “Iowa Connect” jersey, a name that plays on Major League Baseball’s City Connect uniform program. It’s mostly grey, with black stripes outlined in white running across the shoulders and down the length of the sleeves. The front of the jersey has “IOWA” spelled out in large black letters above a modified version of the Heartlanders’ primary logo. Inside “IOWA,” the team has written out the names of 137 Iowan cities and towns.
The modified Heartlanders logo on the jersey includes the word “IOWA” integrated into the hair detailing on the deer’s neck, along with the shape of the state in the nose and a hockey stick worked into the eyebrow. The black side panels of the jersey feature various Iowa state slogans written out in a script font, while a line art silhouette of the Iowa City skyline runs around the sleeve cuffs. The American flag sits on the right shoulder, while the Iowa flag sits on the left.
Meanwhile, the Heartlanders also unveiled what they call their “Defend the Forest” jerseys last week. “Defend the Forest” has become a rallying cry for the team since its inception in 2021-22. “The Forest is Xtream Arena, our sanctuary, where we find protection,” the team says on its website. “We defend our home and each other and we need YOU, our fans, to be at YOUR best supporting our team. We will make sure every opponent knows that when you come into our home, you are not only facing our team on the ice, but our entire community galvanized in the effort to DEFEND THE FOREST.”
Fittingly, the jerseys are mainly forest green; like the “Iowa Connect” jerseys, the mockups show black stripes outlined in white running across the shoulders and down the length of the sleeves. A one-colour white version of the Heartlanders’ primary logo sits on the chest. Tonal evergreen trees sit on either side of the jersey, and grey tree stands appear on the cuffs of the black sleeves. “DEFEND THE FOREST” is repeated on a black stripe that runs around the waist.
The “Iowa Connect” jerseys will be worn for the Heartlanders’ three appreciation nights throughout the 2025-26 season: November 1 (first responders and military); January 16 (teachers); and March 28 (construction workers). The only confirmed date for the “Defend the Forest” jerseys so far is the Heartlanders’ home opener on Friday, October 17, against the Tulsa Oilers.
