We asked the president of the Hockey team why there’s no hockey culture in Iowa

From the suburbs of Illinois and Minnesota, hockey’s everywhere. But in the state of Iowa, it’s hard to find. Why is that?

I grew up in the northern Illinois area. And with that came a passion for hockey, whether it be the Rockford IceHogs, Chicago Wolves, or the all-important Blackhawks, I was able to get my fix one way or another. But moving to Iowa City has left me without a method of watching my games albeit streams or through the radio.

This left me with the question, where is the hockey culture here in Iowa? Bordering states like Minnesota and Illinois, you would’ve thought hockey would be extremely popular.

 Bobby Acri, pictured above, captain of the Iowa Hawkeyes team explained:

“Football and wrestling have a strong hold on Iowa’s sport focus. There’s no room for a sport they know nothing about. Since there are no pro teams for people to follow it’s understandable there isn’t a large following.”

I asked Cedar Rapids native Andrew Verhille if he was a fan – there was a semi-pro team in his hometown. His response was plainly, “No, that’s an Illinois thing.”

I was shocked.

I asked him to elaborate and he added, “I’ve been to a couple games, but it wasn’t something I was dying to see. Along with that, the Blackhawks culture brought to Iowa from the Chicago suburbs is obnoxious.”

I had to ask Blackhawks die-hard Dani Beechy.

Thankfully, she responded with, “It’s a fast-paced game. It’s full of excitement for me. It’s a welcome change from sports like football and baseball, which I think are too slow.”

In contrast to Andrew, she felt that the lack of goals and the subsequent excitement of overtime and shootouts made it better than high-score sports.

Seeing the students’ conflicting perspectives was really great. From the unknowing to the knowledgeable. I was able to see what students saw when they hit the ice. But what about someone who wants to bring the popularity of the sport to school?

Bobby, captain of the Iowa Hawkeyes team, and his felt the solution was simple: it’s about getting the sport and the team itself out there.

He believed that based on location, hockey didn’t have potential for success. Where he was from, Winnetka, Illinois, teams were everywhere, parents passed it down to their children, so the love would live on.

“Everybody that doesn’t know much should give it a try. Like any other sport, it’s something to build friendships, relationships. Aside from it being a sport, it helps you build so much more in your life.”