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| Waterloo Black Hawks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Waterloo, Iowa |
| League | United States Hockey League |
| Conference | Western |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Home arena | Young Arena |
| Colors | Black, red, white |
| General manager | Vacant |
| Head coach | Scott Gordon |
| Media | KCNZ,Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier,KWWL |
| Franchise history | |
| First Franchise | |
| 1962–1969 | Waterloo Black Hawks |
| 1969–1970 | Iowa Stars |
| 1970–1980 | Waterloo Black Hawks |
| 1980–2001 | Dubuque Fighting Saints |
| Second Franchise | |
| 1978–1979 | Anoka Nordiques |
| 1979–1980 | Hennepin Nordiques |
| 1980–present | Waterloo Black Hawks |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 3Anderson Cups (2007,2014,2018) |
| Division titles | 3 (1980, 2003, 2008) |
| Conference titles | 1 (2014) |
| Playoff championships | 1Clark Cup (2004) |
TheWaterloo Black Hawks are aTier I juniorice hockey team playing in the Western Conference of theUnited States Hockey League (USHL).[1] The Black Hawks' home ice is theYoung Arena inWaterloo, Iowa.[2]
The Waterloo Black Hawks began as asemi-professionalsenior team in theUnited States Hockey League (USHL) in 1962.[3] The league had been renamed prior to the season after beginning in 1948 as theAmerican Amateur Hockey League. The team's home ice was theMcElroy Auditorium. The team won the USHL championship consecutively between the seasons of 1964 and 1968 under "Player/Coach" Bud McRae. After the 1968–69 season, the Black Hawks went on a one-year hiatus to become the Minnesota North Stars' top farm team, the Iowa Stars. The Stars finished 35–26–11 in 1969–70, one point behind league champion Omaha (whom the Stars would later lose to in theCentral Professional Hockey League final series).[citation needed]
After league titles in 1978, and 1979 in a hybrid junior-senior format, the Black Hawks converted tojunior hockey with the rest of the USHL in 1979–80. They won the Southern Division title in 1979–80 before head coach Jack Barzee moved the team to Dubuque the next season, becoming the Fighting Saints in the process. The Hennepin Nordiques then moved to Waterloo before the 1980–81 campaign. The "new" Black Hawks retained the history, logos, and arena of the old team.[citation needed]
Following the retirement of head coach Scott Mikesch in 1980, the team went through eight different head coaches from 1980 to 1992. Five of them coached between 1980 and 1982. After the team's Southern Division title in 1980, the Black Hawks did not have a winning season again until 1993–94, winning 20 games (in a 48-game season) four times during that span.[citation needed]
The Black Hawks turned out several futureNational Hockey League (NHL) players in the early 1990s. Twin leadingforwardsChris Ferraro andPeter Ferraro came over from Dubuque midway through the 1991–92 season and scored a combined 200 points from their time that year in Waterloo and Dubuque. Two seasons later,Jason Blake had 50goals and 50assists, the first 50-goal, 50-assist player in the USHL since Thunder Bay's Terry Menard seven years prior.[citation needed]
In 1994, the Black Hawks moved out of the old McElroy Auditorium into the newYoung Arena in downtown Waterloo. New owner Butch Johnson's purchased the team in 1997. The records did not improve, and the team failed to finish above .500 again until the 1999–2000 season. New head coach Scott Pionk in 1997–98 had a 25–29–2 record, but a 16–37–3 record the next season led to his departure. Scott Koberinski had a 28–26–4 record in 1999–2000, followed by a 25–29–2 record the next year, but a 21–38–2 record in 2001–02 led to another coaching change.[citation needed]
New coach P.K. O'Handley brought immediate changes to the Black Hawks in 2002–03 and Waterloo won their first division championship in 23 years with a 38–17–5 record and finishing two points behind theLincoln Stars in the Anderson Cup standings. The next season brought the Hawks' first USHLClark Cup championship win, and the first league title of any kind since 1979, despite finishing fourth in the Eastern Division. The Black Hawks also won the Anderson Cup regular season title in 2006–07, their first regular season title for the Black Hawks in the junior era. The team was one game away from winning the 2007 Clark Cup before they were beaten 3–0 by theSioux Falls Stampede in the championship game. The made it to the 2008 Clark Cup Finals, but lost 4–3 to theOmaha Lancers inovertime in the final game of the series. Waterloo was also defeated in a five-game finals series by the Green Bay Gamblers in 2012 and once more in 2014 by the Indiana Ice. However, the Hawks did win additional Anderson Cups in 2013–14 and 2017–18.[citation needed]
Of the 31 Black Hawks alumni who have gone on to appear in the NHL, 22 played for O'Handley, includingJoe Pavelski,Vinnie Hinostroza, andBrock Boeser. In the2019 NHL Entry Draft, forwards Vladislav Firstov[4] (42nd) and Matej Blumel[5] (100th) were drafted to the Minnesota Wild and the Edmonton Oilers, respectively.[citation needed]
The Black Hawks won the USHL Organization of the Year award for the 2002–03, 2004–05, and 2006–07 seasons. At the time, the USHL said of the Black Hawks in 2007, "Once a franchise in a state of disarray, the Waterloo Black Hawks are now among the teams that sets the standard for how a team should be run."[6] P.K. O'Handley also won Coach of the Year honors for the 2002–03, 2006–07, 2013–14, and 2017–18 seasons[7] and the General Manager of Year award for the 2002–03, 2011–12, 2017–18 seasons.[8]
P.K. O'Handley stepped down from his coaching position after the2020–21 season to focus on the off-ice aspects of operating the team.[9] The Black Hawks hired former NHL playerMatt Smaby as head coach beginning with the2021–22 season.[10] As of 2024, O'Handley has entered a Senior Consultant role with the team.[11] This leaves Joe Greene, who joined the team in June 2015 as Vice President and was promoted in March 2023, as sole President and Chief Operating Officer of the team.[12] Under Greene's leadership the Black Hawks were awarded Business of the Year (1-50 employees) by Grow Cedar Valley also in March 2023.[13] 2022–23 USHL General Manager of the YearBryn Chyzyk left the team on March 8, 2025 to return to his alma mater,North Dakota, to serve as an assistant coach and general manager fortheir men's ice hockey program.
The Black Hawks have ongoing rivalries with theCedar Rapids RoughRiders,Des Moines Buccaneers. and theDubuque Fighting Saints. In 2010, the USHL saw the renewal of the rivalry between Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Waterloo. Waterloo participates in a four team head-to-head regular season competition known as the Dupaco Cowbell Cup.[14]
Among the Black Hawks alumni in theNational Hockey League:[15]
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