Forward Zach White is first player to sign with Heartlanders for 2022-23

Coralville, Iowa – The Iowa Heartlanders, proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild, announced Tuesday forward Zach White has agreed to an ECHL contract, the first player to come to terms on an agreement with Iowa for 2022-23.White joined the Heartlanders in December and proceeded to post nearly a point-per-game (51 pts. in 52 GP). He ranked third on the squad with 18 goals and finished with a team-best plus-10 rating. After his signing, Iowa finished the season with an above .500 record and White was part of 23 of the club’s 29 victories.The Heartlanders will continue to announce signed players in the coming weeks and the Heartlanders 2022-23 schedule is now available at iowaheartlanders.com/schedule. The team opens their second season in the ECHL on October 21 at 7:05 p.m. vs. Idaho. Rose Club season ticket memberships, partial plans and group ticket options are available for the upcoming season by calling 319-569-GOAL and visiting iowaheartlanders.com/tickets.  Zach White: “I’m excited to come back and it’s special to be the first player announced. The people I met and coaches and players were all great to me in Iowa and I’m happy to be back in a familiar spot. Last year we had a young team and I think this upcoming season we can take that next step and it’ll lead to even more success.”Head Coach and General Manager Gerry Fleming: “Zach is the kind of character player every good hockey team needs to succeed. He joined us midway through the season and brought hunger, effort and joy to the rink. He really influenced our culture and helped us in a lot of close victories. This is an important offseason for Zach to continue to grow as a player and be able to sustain the type of production we saw from him on our top line last year.”Need to knowThe Milford, CT native played most of the season centering a line that featured Captain Kris Bennett and Ryan Kuffner. Bennett tied for the ECHL lead in goals and Kuffner was the top forward in points-per-game. White’s “do-everything” approach also showed in his willingness to take on multiple roles, playing center, wing and defenseman at times when Iowa was short healthy bodies on the blue line.A 5-foot-7, 165-lb., right-handed shot, White is preparing for his fourth professional campaign since graduating from Curry College in 2019. After a year overseas as a rookie, White returned to North America in 2020-21 with Carolina (FPHL) and skated 8 games with Vermillion County (SPHL) in 2021-22 before signing with Iowa.