in

Column: The Bloomington Bison are playing their rival again. It's been violent so far


If you are unfamiliar with the Bloomington Bison’s most frequent opponent, the Iowa Heartlanders, beginning Saturday night at Grossinger Motors Arena, you’ll get plenty of opportunities to educate yourself.

The two teams have already played against each other five times this season, with the Bison going 2-2-1, and are scheduled to face off a staggering five more times between now and Dec. 1. 







Bison vs. Heartlanders

Officials intervene in a heated interaction between Bloomington Bison and Iowa Heartlanders players on Sunday at Grossinger Motors Arena. There has been plenty of that this season, and more is expected.




Starting Saturday, the Bison’s next five games will be with Iowa, with two at home and three on the road. In total, the two teams will go head-to-head 15 times during the 2024-25 season.

If the old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” holds any truth, the Bison and Heartlanders could be at war by the end of the month.

With all that in mind, let’s take a closer look at our new rivals to the north.

People are also reading…

The Heartlanders, like the Bison, are a relatively new team in the ECHL. They joined the league in 2021, have finished seventh in the Central Division and failed to make the playoffs during each of their first three seasons. The team’s home base is Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, just north of Iowa City and about 25 miles south of Cedar Rapids.

The Heartlanders are an affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and the AHL’s Iowa Wild, who play in Des Moines. The team is coached by Derek Damon, a former player in both ECHL and AHL.







Bloomington Bison

Players scrap for the puck during a game between the Bloomington Bison and Iowa Heartlanders on Oct. 26 at Grossinger Motors Arena. 




Currently, the Heartlanders sit third in the Central Division with a record of 7-3-2 and 16 points. The Bison, in comparison, are four points behind Iowa in the division and have a record of 5-6-1.

The teams feature the two youngest rosters in all of the ECHL. Bloomington, though, is nearly a whole year younger: The Bison average age is 23 years, 139 days, versus 24 years and 102 days for the Heartlanders.

The dynamic duo

Iowa is led by forwards Matthew Sop and Gavin Hain.

Sop, 21, is first in the entire ECHL with 12 assists and is tied for second in overall points with 19. He played last year in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers, scoring an impressive 43 goals and 47 assists in 67 games. Undrafted by an NHL team, he signed a contract with the Heartlanders’ affiliate, the Iowa Wild, this past July.







Chongmin Lee

Bloomington Bison forward Chongmin Lee (77) tangles with players for the Iowa Heartlanders, including Matthew Sop (9), during a game Oct. 26 at Grossinger Motors Arena. 




Hain, 24, was chosen in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers and has split time between the Heartlanders and the Iowa Wild the past two seasons. This year he has scored six goals and eight assists in only eight games at the ECHL level.

The duo of Sop and Hain have already combined to score four goals and five assists against the Bison. Keeping them off the scoresheet should be the first order of business for Bloomington in the coming games.

“You know, those guys (Sop and Hain) are just such a handful for our group to contain,” Bison Head Coach Phillip Barski said in a press conference after last Sunday’s 3-2 win over Iowa. “I thought we did a great job containing them in the first two periods.”

Special teams comparison

The Bison have come on strong in the past week, scoring power-play goals in five consecutive games, bringing up their conversion rate to 17%. Iowa, though, is fourth best in the league with a 26% success rate on power play.

Again, Sop and Hain lead the way for the Heartlanders with seven and six points, respectively, on the man-advantage. Bloomington forward Brett Budgell is tops for the Bison with three goals and one assist.







Brett Budgell

Bison forward Brett Budgell (10) plays for the puck in the corner during the second period of a game against the Kalamazoo Wings earlier this season. Budgell leads the team in points.




The Bison do feature a more potent penalty kill. They have successfully dealt with 80% of their PK opportunities while Iowa is only at 74%.

Special teams may be the deciding factor in their five-game series. Iowa is the sixth-most penalized team in the league, being down a man 47 times this year as compared to only 36 for the Bison.

A history of violence

Players for the Bloomington Bison and Iowa Heartlanders scrap during a tight game Sunday, Nov. 17 at Grossinger Motors Arena.



Let me be clear: When these two teams lock horns — or antlers, depending on your perspective — penalties will be a factor. In the first five meetings between the Bison and Heartlanders, there have been a robust 171 penalty minutes handed out by the officials. That includes 13 roughing calls and nine major penalties featuring three fines and two suspensions.

Iowa will be without defenseman Jules Boscq for the game in Bloomington on Saturday night. He was fined and suspended for one game for a major boarding penalty he received in the second period last Sunday afternoon in Bloomington.

Boscq joins teammate Brandon Yeamans and the Bison’s Jackson Leppard as players who have been suspended for actions in games between these two teams. Leppard was suspended five games for leaving the bench during an altercation on the ice. Yeamans received a two-game ban for being the aggressor during the same event in the second period of the Oct. 26 game where the Bison ultimately lost to the Heartlanders 5-4 in a shootout.







Jackson Leppard and Hugo Ollas

Bloomington Bison forward Jackson Leppard (17) warms up with starting goalie Hugo Ollas (30) earlier this season. Leppard was handed a five-game suspension for leaving the bench during an altercation with Iowa.




As I said, familiarity breeds contempt.

Barski has a more effusive opinion of the Bison’s newest rival. He has had a front-row seat to all of the action thus far and has come away with some respect for the Heartlanders.







Phillip Barski mug

Barski


“They got a heck of a hockey team,” Barski said on Sunday. “They skate really well. They skate really well. They work really, really hard.”

As for what to expect from the Heartlanders and Bison match-ups this year, Barski summed it up well.

“You know, (we play) 15 or 16 times this year, so we obviously are very intimate and familiar with each other’s games,” Barski said. “And you know, we’re just going to continue to duke this out.”

The Bloomington Bison begin a five-game set with the Iowa Heartlanders at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. That game is also at 7 pm.







Adam Morris

Morris


Website |  + posts

Kathryn is the main contributor to the quiz section of LaDailyGazette.com. If you have an idea for a quiz, let us know.

Written by Kathryn Sears

Kathryn is the main contributor to the quiz section of LaDailyGazette.com. If you have an idea for a quiz, let us know.