Iowa Stars Iowa Stars
The Iowa Stars joined the league for the 1969/70 season after the league shifted the Memphis franchise to Waterloo, Iowa. The Stars had a great season, finishing in 2nd place for the regular season and only one point out of 1st place. The Stars went on to the Finals only to lose to 1st place Omaha, 4 games to 1 in the series. Due to heavy financial losses, estimated around $150,000 dollars, the Iowa Stars folded following the season. The Minnesota North Stars, Iowa's parent team, signed an agreement with Cleveland in the A.H.L. to be their new farm team for the 1970/71 season.
| Iowa Stars - Team Records: |
| Regular Season Records | ||||||||||
| Seasons | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
| 1969/70 | 72 | 35 | 26 | 11 | 81 | 252 | 232 | 1340 | 2nd | Lost Finals |
| Playoff Records | ||||||
| Seasons | GP | W | L | GF | GA | Finish |
| 1969/70 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 37 | 40 | Lost Finals |
| Adams Cup Playoff Results | |||
| 1969/70 Season | |||
| Semi - finals | Finals | ||
| March 25 | Tulsa 2 at Iowa 4 | April 8 | Omaha 6 at Iowa 2 |
| March 28 | Tulsa 1 at Iowa 2 * | April 11 | Omaha 1 at Iowa 3 |
| March 29 | Iowa 0 at Tulsa 5 | April 15 | Iowa 2 at Omaha 4 |
| March 31 | Iowa 6 at Tulsa 2 | April 17 | Iowa 6 at Omaha 7 * |
| April 1 | Tulsa 5 at Iowa 3 | April 18 | Iowa 5 at Omaha 7 |
| April 3 | Iowa 4 at Tulsa 0 | Omaha wins series 4 games to 1 | |
| Iowa wins series 4 games to 2 | * Overtime | ||
| Iowa Stars - Player Records: |
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| Iowa Stars All-Time Roster |
Name Position Jrsy# Yrs.Played Jim Benzelock (RW) 8 1969/70 Ken Broderick (G) 1969/70 Barry Buchanan (D) 4 1969/70 Mike Chernoff (LW) 16 1969/70 Gary Dineen (C) 20 1969/70 Rick Dudley (LW) 1969/70 Grant Erickson (LW) 12 1969/70 Stan Fuller 1969/70 Gilles Gilbert (G) 1 1969/70 Joe Johnston (LW) 9 1969/70 Marshall Johnston (D) 5 1969/70 Dan Lawson (RW) 17 1969/70 Walt McKechnie (C) 18 1969/70 Barrie Meissner (C) 15 1969/70 John Miszuk (D) 1969/70 Dennis O'Brien (D) 2 1969/70 Bill Orban (C) 6 1969/70 Tom Polanic (D) 1969/70 Jack Rathwell 1969/70 Dick Redmond (C) 22 1969/70 Tom Reid (D) 3 1969/70 Fern Rivard (G) 30 1969/70 Cal Russell (RW) 11 1969/70 Dan Seguin (RW) 10 1969/70 Rick Sentes (RW) 1969/70 Darryl Sly (D) 1969/70 Bob Walton (C) 21 1969/70 Bob Whitlock (C) 14 1969/70 |
| Iowa Stars - Front Office: |
President - Mike Lorenzen
Vice President - Stu Sears
Vice President - Bob Peterson
Secretary - Joe Nutting
Treasurer - Howard Henderson
Secretary - Judy Dawson
General Manager Coach John Muckler Parker MacDonald
| Iowa Stars - General Information: |
N.H.L. Parent Team - Minnesota North Stars
Team Colors - Green, White, & Gold
Home Rink - McElroy Auditorium, Waterloo, Iowa
Seating -
Ticket Prices - $3, $2.50, & $2
Program price - .40¢
(1) Waterloo
Courier - April 7, 1970
(2) Waterloo Courier - April
22, 1970
(3) Waterloo Courier - March
13, 1970
| Iowa Stars - Trophy Case: |
| 1969/70 Second Team All-Star Left Wing |  |
| Dan Seguin | |
| 1969/70 Second Team All-Star Center | missing photo |
| Bill Orban |
| Iowa Stars - Newspaper Articles: |
(Special thanks goes out to Tom Hayden for his research and supplying the following newspaper articles on the Iowa Stars)
The following article is about a disputed goal that cost the Iowa Stars from winning the regular season championship.
Waterloo Courier
March 22, 1970
Written by: Russ L. Smith
The real villain skated off the McElroy Auditorium ice almost unnoticed and totally unmolested Friday night. And there stood tiny Dave Swick, a popular hero of Waterloo's United States Hockey League championship days, under a shower of soft drink cups and popcorn boxes, amid a torrent of oaths and random threats as the man charged with costing Waterloo the championship of the Central Hockey League in its first try.
Swick, one of three former U.S. League players frequently assigned by the National Hockey League to work CHL games here as linesman, made the toughest off-side call of his short officiating career Friday.
It took the hero's robes off Waterloo's John Miszuk and gave Fort Worth's Fred Speck, the visiting villain all but forgotten in the final hectic seconds, a chance to tie the game with his second goal in the last 2:51 of play.
Speck's first goal had tied it 2-2 with 17:09 gone in the final period and broke a scoreless spell of almost 38 minutes. Miszuk's first Central League goal of the year put the Waterloo Iowa Stars back ahead 3-2 61 seconds later.
Speck tied it with 22 seconds left in play as Fort Worth applied pressure with six skaters by pulling goalie Jim Rutherford out of the net a piece of strategy that seemed to have backfired against Coach Doug Barkely only moments earlier when Waterloo's Mike Chernoff cruised in alone on Fort Worth's goal and drilled the puck home for what, for a fleeting moment, appeared to be the clinching goal.
However, Swick was standing at the faceoff dot on the other end of the ice wildly waving his hands to signal an off-side pass.
The goal was nullified and Waterloo's lead reverted to only 3-2. The Stars never got the puck out of their defensive zone and 32 seconds later Speck drilled home the tying score after goalie Fern Rivard had made one crucial save.
The tying score brought the second shower of debris onto the Auditorium ice. Another followed the final horn.
Even before the faceoff after the goal Waterloo center Walt McKechnie was banished with a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct for a skirmish with Swick.
After the game, both Coach Parker MacDonald and General Manager John Muckler joined the Waterloo players on the ice with Swick their verbal target.
"A whole year goes down the drain in one call like that," exploded Muckler later. The Waterloo bench was unanimous in feeling that Chernoff was not offsides before he pursued the loose puck down the ice, picked it up and drilled it home.
Muckler also raised the point that some of the players felt they saw the puck hit a Fort Worth stick which would have made the puck fair game for whichever team could get to it first without consideration of where the skaters were prior to the pass.
To avoid an offside on the play, Chernoff would have had to be behind the Waterloo blue line when the pass was made.
The tie appeared to cost Waterloo the championship and about $300 out-of- pocket for each of the players in CHL prize money. It could prove even more costly at contract time next year since the organization might regard the winning of the pennant a worthy of more generous considerations.
The officials were trapped on the ice by a ring of fans outside the boards for nearly 15 minutes until Dutch Van Deelen, Western supervisor of officials for the National Hockey League, walked onto the ice and led Swick, the other linesman, John Lesyshen, also a former Waterloo Black Hawk, and referee Ken Bodendistel, to the dressing room. Van Deelen was here on one of his frequent visits to observe the officials.
Fort Worth drew first blood at 11:11 of the first period when Jim Cardiff fired a 15-footer that got past Rivard, whose vision was obscured by McKechnie.
The Stars were having trouble getting organized. What with a five minute major against Harry Meissner for drawing blood on a high sticking penalty and a two-minute minor on McKechnie, the Stars skated short-handed for almost seven consecutive minutes.
Finally they were at full strength and Darryl Sly stole the puck and started it down ice, McKechnie fed Bill Orban in front of the net an Orban jammed his 32nd goal into the left hand corner with 2:21 left in the first period.
Two minutes and 14 seconds later, McKechnie scored as Waterloo was skating with four against Fort Worth's three.
The Wings outshot the Stats consistently and had a 36-21 shot on goals edge for the game, but the score remained 2-1 Waterloo until Speck tied it with a looping backhand shot that went over Rivard's right shoulder from 20 feet down the slot.
Miszuk's lead regaining goal was a slap shot from near the blue line that sailed high past the Wings' defense.
Waterloo Lineup:
Goalie - Rivard. Defense - O'Brian, Polanic, Miszuk, Sly,
Redmond. Forwards - Orban, Benzelock, J. Johnston, Seguin,
Erickson, Whitlock, Chernoff, McKechnie, Meissner.
Fort Worth Lineup:
Goalie - Rutherford. Defense - Ketter, Cardiff, Zanussi,
Manery, L. Johnston. Forwards - Volmar, Hatoum, Gates, Garwasiuk,
Bredin, Andrasick, Speck, Shires, Walters, McCann.
Scoring:
Waterloo...... 2 0 1 - 3
Fort Worth....1 0 2 - 3
First Period - 1. Fort Worth, Cardiff (McCann, Hatoum),
11:11. 2. Waterloo, Orban (McKechnie, Whitlock), 17:39. 3.
Waterloo, McKechnie (Sly, J. Johnston), 19:53. Penalties, Redmond
(hooking), 1:32. Meissner (high sticking major), 7:11. L.
Johnston (interference), 10:05. McKechnie (slashing), 12:13.
Bredin (tripping), 15:19. Ketter (interference), 17:57. Cardiff
(slashing), 19:25. Erickson (roughing), 19:25.
Second Period - No scoring. Penalties, Cardiff
(interference), 4:24. Miszuk (interference), 6:36. L. Johnston
(holding), 14:22.
Third Period - 1. Fort Worth, Speck (Shires,
Volmar), 17:09. 2. Waterloo, Miszuk (Chernoff), 18:10. 3. Fort
Worth, Speck (Volmar, Hatoum), 19:38. Penalties, J. Johnston
(slashing), 4:21. L. Johnston (hooking), 12:16. McKechnie
(misconduct, game misconduct), 19:38. Zanussi (tripping), 20:00.
Shots On Goal
Waterloo........6 8 7 - 21
Fort Worth.....8 13 15 - 36
Officials: Ken Bodendistel, referee. John Lesyshen and
Dave Swick, linesman.
Attendance - 2,285
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The following article gives an indepth reason why the Iowa Stars folded following the 1969/1970 season.
Waterloo Courier
June 5, 1970
Written by: Russ L. Smith
Lorenzen Calls Hockey Withdrawal "Shabby Deal"
Mike Lorenzen, president of Northeast Iowa Sports, Inc., and leading figure when that body brought professional hockey to Waterloo last summer, termed the Minnisota North Stars withdrawal of their team after a single season a "shabby deal".
Lorenzen, who resigned as president after the new Waterloo club was in operation because of the press of his private business interest, made his remarks in objection to a statement read by current president Bob Petersen to a board meeting of Northeast Iowa Sports friday morning.
The board members were officially informed that the decision by the North Stars to withdrawal their farm club from the Central Hockey League is final.
After hurling his charge of shabby trick, Lorenzen said "During our negotiations with the North Stars last year we made it clear that we were not interested in having professional hockey here for one year."
"I believe the community did all it could and I think we did more than we indicated we could."
"As I remember from our projections last summer, we felt that the outside figure we could consider was $200,000(gross income).
"I believe the figure we reached was around $168,000 I think we did far better than we anticipated".
"I'd like to make it clear to the board that these were our understandings. I want to apologize to Northeast Iowa for sticking our necks out in bringing the Iowa Stars to Waterloo. I feel hockey has suffered and we are worse off for one year in the Central League than if we never had it at all".
John Muckler, the general manager here during the one year operation, demurred slightly in Lorenzen's $168,000 figure contending the actual total was around $163,000.
It was understood, however, that the $163,000 did not include consession income.
Muckler said, "Speaking for the North Stars, it was our feeling and good intention that this thing should become a success and obviously it never did."
"I would have to agree that a 30 percent increase in business next year, as suggested, would be possible, but it would still leave $130,000 cushion for us to make up. At Cleveland we will have none of this."
"We asked for a partner to share in our losses. This did not come forward."
"We thank the president and the board of directors for their great support. I feel now just as I did a couple of months ago that it was strictly a lack of population base. The support here was tremendous-about 2 percent of the population saw each game. Probably no other city can match that."
The North Stars have announced a three year working agreement with a private owner in Cleveland of the American Hockey League.
Muckler was challenged over a statement attributed to North Star officials that they would be delighted if their operations here didn't cost more than $150,000. That is approximately the figure that has been mentioned as the loss here.
"We had lost about $200,000 in Memphis the previous year", Muckler said. "Off that basis this was a more successful operation than Memphis, but Cleveland was in the picture at the time."
President Walter Bush, in his letter to Petersen informing the Waterloo president of the North Stars decision, promised help, where needed, in Waterloo's efforts to remain in hockey.
The board imediately moved friday to investigate the possibility of returning to the United States Hockey League, in amateur circuit it left in the spring of 1969 after seven years of operation.
Board members were told that the officers have been in touch with USHL officials and that their final plans for the 1970/1971 season are being withheld pending decision on Waterloo's intentions.
Petersen indicated a feeling that Waterloo must have organized hockey in order to insure maintenance of the McElroy Auditorium Arena upon which depends the servival of the Waterloo junior hockey program.
Jim Coyle, goaly for the Waterloo Black Hawks, members of the USHL league, attended the meeting and said most of the former Waterloo players in the area are ready and anxious to return to the ice.
Prospective USHL members for next year so far include Sault Ste Marie,Ont., Greenbay, Wis, Marquette, Mich, and Lake Head, Ont., the combined communities formerly known as Port Arthur and Fort William. The latter played an informal schedule with league teams last year while Rochester Minn. was the fourth member. Rochester is believed to be out of the league now.
Petersen's statement, eventually approved for an announcement "We are extremely disappointed to report that the Iowa Stars are definately not returning to Waterloo next year. We were aware that our community has not responded, attendance-wise, to their expectations, but due to what we considered a definate surge in interest in hockey and extensive plans for next year, we were confident that we could show a 30 percent increase next year."
"At the same time, it is difficult to quarrel with the decision to move their farm team to Cleveland because they will affect drastic savings due to the tipe of arrangement they have made with that privately owned club and there would have been absolutely no way in which Waterloo could have matched the agreement."
"Now that we are certain of their decision, we want to assure fans in Waterloo that action has already begun to attempt to provide this community with another hockey team thus insuring use of our outstanding auditorium and permitting the continuation of the extremely fine junior hockey program."
If you can help with missing stats or team history, please Email me.
