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Waterloo Black Hawks
Waterloo Blackhawks
City: Waterloo, Iowa
League: United States Hockey League
Division: East
Founded: 1962
Home Arena: Young Arena
Colors: Black, Red, and White
Owner(s): Butch Johnson
General Manager: P.K. O'Handley
Head Coach: P.k. O'Handley
Media: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, KWWL
Championships
Regular Season Titles: 2007
Division Championships: 1980, 2003, 2007
Playoff Championships: 2004

The Waterloo Black Hawks are a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team playing in the East Division of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The Black Hawks' home ice is the Young Arena located in Waterloo, Iowa.

Early history[]

The Waterloo Black Hawks began as a semi-professional team in the USHL in 1962, the league having started only a season before. The team's home ice was the McElroy Auditorium. The team started strong, winning the USHL championship every season from 1964 to 1968. 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 team finished 35-26-11 in 1969-70, one point behind league champion Omaha (whom the Stars would later lose to in the Central Professional Hockey League final series). The Stars reverted back to the Black Hawks and the USHL the very next year, amid financial losses topping $150,000 and a Stars move to Cleveland.

Early junior history[]

After another decade of success in the 1970s, including more league titles in 1975, '78, and '79, the Black Hawks reverted to junior hockey with the rest of the USHL in 1979. They immediately 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. Waterloo was not without a team for long, however, as the USHL champion Hennepin Nordiques opted to move the team to Waterloo before the 1980-81 campaign.

The new Black Hawks, unlike the Black Hawks of old, struggled. From 1980 to 1992, when new head coach Scott Mikesch stepped behind the bench, the team went through eight different head coaches. Five of them coached between 1980 and 1982. After the team's Southern Division title in 1980, the Black Hawks would not celebrate a winning season again until 1993-94, winning 20 games (in a 48-game season) only four times during that span.

The 1990s[]

Despite bad records and a decaying arena, the Black Hawks managed to turn out several future NHLers in the early 1990s. Twin star forwards Chris Ferraro and Peter Ferraro came over in 1991 from Dubuque and scored a combined 200 points in the 1991-92 season, and just two seasons later, Jason Blake notched 50 goals and 50 assists, the first 50-goal, 50-assist player in the USHL since Thunder Bay's Terry Menard seven years prior.

In 1995, the Black Hawks moved out of the old McElroy Auditorium into the brand-new Young Arena in downtown Waterloo. With that move and new owner Butch Johnson's purchase of the team almost simultaneously, things began to look up for the Black Hawks. Unfortunately, the records did not improve, and the team failed to finish above .500 again until 1999-2000. New head coach Scott Pionk brought a glimmer of hope to the Cedar Valley in 1997-98 with a 25-29-2 record, but a 16-37-3 record the next season led to his departure. Scott Koberinski's 28-26-4 record in 1999-2000, followed by a 25-29-2 record the next year, brought even higher hopes, but a 21-38-2 record led to yet another coaching change.

Recent success[]

New coach P.K. O'Handley brought immediate changes to the Black Hawks landscape in 2002-03, hauling in Waterloo's first division championship in 23 years with a 38-17-5 record and finishing only two points behind the Lincoln Stars in the Anderson Cup race. The next season brought the Hawks' first USHL Clark Cup championship ever (referenced below), and the first league title of any kind since 1979, despite finishing 4th in the Eastern Division. Once again, O'Handley's leadership brought a title in 2007, this time the Anderson Cup, the first-ever regular season title for the Black Hawks in the junior era. The Black Hawks also found themselves one game away from winning the 2007 Clark Cup, before they were downed 3-0 by the Sioux Falls Stampede in the championship game, and they found themselves in the same state in the 2008 Clark Cup Finals, losing 4-3 to the Omaha Lancers in overtime in the final game of the series. Since the 1993-94 season, the Black Hawks have sent 103 players to the college ranks and have sent 73 alumni to the pro ranks in their 28-year junior history, including 8 current NHL players.

Under the leadership of O'Handley and General Manager of Business Operations Doug Miller, the Black Hawks won the USHL Organization of the Year award for the 2002-03, 2004-05, and 2006-07 seasons. 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." O'Handley also won Coach of the Year honors for the 2002-03 and 2006-07 seasons and the General Manager of Year award for the 2002-03 season.

Rivalries[]

The Black Hawks have had some memorable rivalries with other USHL teams, most notably the current "Corridor Cup" rivalry with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Other rivalries include a former rivalry with the old Dubuque Fighting Saints (which were the Black Hawks prior to 1980), a rivalry with the Sioux City Musketeers (the only teams left from the 1979 USHL transformation; the Des Moines Buccaneers were added to the league a year later), and the Buccaneers themselves (because of the rich hockey heritage both teams share, and because travel between the two cities has been streamlined with four-lane retrofits of U.S. Highway 20 and Iowa Highway 330. During the 1990s, the Black Hawks - Buccaneers rivalry was not nearly as active as it is now, due to the Buccaneers' usual stance at the top of the league and the Black Hawks' perennial place in the USHL's basement. Since the Buccaneers' fall from domination at the end of the 1990s and the Black Hawks' recent rise, the teams have found themselves on much more equal footing lately, and the rivalry is as alive as ever.


Season-by-season record[]

Senior/Professional Years[]

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

Season GP W L T GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
Waterloo Black Hawks
1962-63 32 16 16 0 147 156 32 3rd overall Lost Semifinals
1963-64 30 19 11 0 156 126 38 1st overall Won Championship
1964-65 28 17 11 0 129 110 34 1st overall Won Championship
1965-66 30 21 9 0 182 132 42 1st overall Won Championship
1966-67 32 17 14 1 128 117 35 1st overall Won Championship
1967-68 34 27 6 1 190 105 55 1st overall Won Championship
1968-69 38 20 16 2 - - 42 3rd overall
Iowa Stars (CHL)
1969-70 72 35 26 11 252 232 81 2nd overall Lost Final
Waterloo Black Hawks
1970-71 40 19 19 2 187 180 40 2nd overall
1971-72 32 15 17 0 130 136 30 2nd overall
1972-73 42 23 18 1 217 189 47 3rd Southern Did not qualify
1973-74 48 29 18 1 236 183 59 2nd Southern
1974-75 48 30 15 3 221 165 63 1st Southern Won Championship
1975-76 48 30 18 0 242 184 60 2nd Southern Lost first round
1976-77 48 20 28 0 216 279 40 3rd Southern Did not Qualify
1977-78 51 34 17 0 267 198 68 1st US Won Championship
1978-79 51 39 12 0 304 182 66 1st Central Won Championship

Junior Years[]

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OL = Overtime Losses, SL = Shootout Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

Season GP W L T OL SL GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
Original Junior Franchise (became Dubuque Fighting Saints)
1979-80 48 27 19 2 - - 270 235 56 1st of 3 Southern
Current franchise (previous Hennepin Nordiques franchise)
1980-81 48 16 32 0 - - 220 311 32 3rd of 4 Southern
1981-82 48 11 36 1 - - 179 290 23 7th of 7 overall
1982-83 48 6 42 0 - - 189 336 12 7th of 7 overall
1983-84 48 11 33 1 3 - 199 307 26 7th of 8 overall
1984-85 48 21 24 0 3 - 260 278 45 6th of 10 overall
1985-86 48 16 30 1 1 - 223 304 34 7th of 10 overall
1986-87 48 23 19 0 6 - 259 266 52 4th of 10 overall
1987-88 48 20 24 3 1 - 237 269 44 8th of 10 overall
1988-89 48 9 37 0 2 - 169 338 20 9th of 10 overall
1989-90 48 7 36 3 2 - 181 314 19 9th of 10 overall
1990-91 48 17 29 2 0 - 162 234 40 9th of 10 overall
1991-92 48 21 25 2 0 - 253 286 46 6th of 10 overall
1992-93 48 17 24 3 4 - 155 205 41 7th of 10 overall
1993-94 54 33 15 0 2 - 214 152 68 2nd of 10 overall
1994-95 48 14 27 2 5 - 161 205 35 9th of 11 overall
1995-96 46 21 19 2 4 - 157 176 48 6th of 11 overall
1996-97 56 16 34 - 4 - 182 273 36 5th of 6 South Did not qualify
1997-98 56 29 25 - 0 2 159 200 52 5th of 6 South Lost quarterfinals 1-4 (North Iowa Huskies)
1998-99 56 16 37 - 3 0 167 245 35 4th of 4 East Did not qualify
1999-00 58 28 26 - 0 4 186 213 60 3rd of 7 East Lost Quarterfinals 1-3 (Green Bay Gamblers)
2000-01 56 25 29 - 2 0 189 210 52 3rd of 6 East Did not qualify
2001-02 61 21 38 - 2 0 138 220 44 5th of 6 East Did not qualify
2002-03 60 38 17 - 1 4 221 171 81 1st of 5 East Won Quarterfinals 3-1 (Des Moines Buccaneers)
Lost Semifinals 0-3 (River City Lancers)
2003-04 60 30 27 - 2 1 174 162 63 4th of 6 East Won Quarterfinals 3-2 (Chicago Steel)
Won Semifinals 3-0 (Danville Wings)
Won Championship 3-1 (Tri-City Storm)
2004-05 60 29 25 - 3 3 163 168 64 2nd of 6 East Lost Quarterfinals 0-3 (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders)
2005-06 60 23 30 - 5 2 177 201 53 5th of 6 East Did not qualify
2006-07 60 39 17 - 1 3 225 157 82 1st of 6 East
1st Overall
Won first round 4-1 (Chicago Steel)
Finished 3rd Quarterfinals 1-1
Won Semifinal 1-0 (ot) (Des Moines Buccaneers)
Lost championship game  0-3 (Sioux Falls Stampede)
2007-08 60 38 17 - 1 4 183 151 81 2nd of 6 East Won Quarterfinals 3-0 (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders)
Won Semifinals 3-0 (Chicago Steel)
Lost Final 2-3 (Omaha Lancers)
2008-09 60 37 20 - 2 1 246 198 77 4th of 6 East Lost Quarterfinals 0-3 (Green Bay Gamblers)
2009-10 60 31 27 - 2 0 227 221 64 4th of 6 East Lost Quarterfinals 0-3 (Green Bay Gamblers)
2010-11 60 24 29 - 3 4 164 183 55 6th of 8 Eastern Lost First Round 0-2 (Indiana Ice)
2011-12 60 35 19 - 2 4 213 189 76 3rd of 8 Western Won First Round 2-0 (Tri-City Storm)
Won Quarterfinals 3-1 (Omaha Lancers)
Won Semifinals 3-1 (Lincoln Stars)
Lost Final 2-3 (Green Bay Gamblers)
2012-13 64 39 21 - 2 2 273 217 82 3rd of 8 Western Lost Quarterfinals 3-0 (Fargo Force)
2013-14 60 44 11 - 1 4 240 153 93 1st of 8 Western
1st overall
Won Quarterfinals 3-0 (Sioux Falls Stampede)
Won Semifinals 3-1 (Sioux City Musketeers)
Lost Final 2-3 (Indiana Ice)
2014-15 60 28 26 - 2 4 191 182 62 5th of 8 Western Did not qualify
2015-16 60 31 24 - 2 3 198 183 67 3rd of 8 Western Won Quarterfinals 3-1 (Lincoln Stars)
Lost Semifinals 2-3 (Tri-City Storm)
2016-17 60 40 16 - 2 2 210 161 84 2nd of 8 Western Won Quarterfinals 3-0 (Fargo Force)
Lost Semifinals 2-3 (Sioux City Musketeers)
2017-18 60 38 14 - 6 2 199 150 84 1st of 8 Western
1st of 17 overall
Won Conf. Semifinals 3-1 (Lincoln Stars)
Lost Conf Final 1-4 (Fargo Force)
2018-19 62 39 16 - 5 2 232 173 85 2nd of 8 Western Lost Conf Semifinals 1-3 (Sioux Falls Stampede)
2019-20 49 33 14 - 2 0 169 129 68 1st of 8 Western Playoffs cancelled
2020-21 53 22 30 - 1 0 165 202 .425 7th Western Did not qualify
2021-22 62 28 30 - 3 1 182 197 60 6th Western Won Conf. Quarterfinals 2-1 (Lincoln Stars)
Lost Conf Semifinals 1-2 (Sioux City Musketeers)
2022-23 62 40 21 - 1 0 230 181 81 2nd Western Lost Conf. Semifinals 1-2 (Lincoln Stars)

Former Black Hawks in pro hockey[]

Links[]


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Waterloo Black Hawks. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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