North Iowa Bulls


The North Iowa Bulls are a Tier III junior ice hockey team in the North American 3 Hockey League. They play their home games at the Mason City Multipurpose Arena in Mason City, Iowa. The Bulls play a 47-game regular season schedule which includes a three-game showcase, as well as a postseason. The Bulls are coached by Todd Sanden, who has been with the team since its inception.

History

The Bulls began playing in 2011, losing their first game to the Chicago Hitmen, 3–1, but earning their first win on October 2, 2011 with a 5–4 win over the Peoria Mustangs. After losing seven of their first eight, the team finished 29–15–0–4, in second place in the West Division. The Bulls would win their first round series over the Twin City Steel two-games-to-none, but lost their division final series to the Granite City Lumberjacks two-games-to-one. The teams traded overtime victories in the first two games before the Lumberjacks took the final game by a score of 3–2.
The Bulls won their first division championship the following year, finishing 41-4-1-2. They swept the Minnesota Flying Aces in three games in their only playoff series before advancing through round-robin play at the Silver Cup tournament to beat Granite City 3-2 in overtime. An 11-0 win over the Peoria Mustangs gave the team its first league championship. The Bulls then advanced to the USA Hockey Tier III national tournament in Rochester, Minnesota, sweeping all three games in pool play. The Bulls defeated the Helena Bighorns in double-overtime in the semifinals and earned a national championship with a 6-2 win over the Twin Cities Northern Lights.
North Iowa set an NA3HL record with 90 points in the 2013-14 season, finishing with a 45-3 record and their second straight West Division title. A high-powered top line of Matt Kroska, Rihards Marenis and Timothy Santopoalo combined for 353 points, with Kroska's 122 points and Marenis's 55 goals resetting the league records in both categories. After sweeping the Twin City Steel in the first round of the NA3HL playoffs, they once again met the Lumberjacks in the West Division finals, winning the decisive Game 3 by a 9-5 score to advance to their second straight Silver Cup Tournament. The Bulls then outscored their opponents 24–4 over the next four games. They defeated the Flint Jr. Generals 3–0 to win their second straight Silver Cup. North Iowa advanced to the Tier III national tournament in Simsbury, Connecticut, again going 3-0 in round-robin play against the Florida Jr. Blades, Dells Ducks, and Boston Bandits. The Bulls would then defeat the Northern Cyclones 5–1 in the semifinal game. The Bulls fell 2-1 in the finals to the Boston Junior Bruins of the USPHL Premier Division, a team that would eventually see 16 players reach NCAA Division I hockey.
In 2014-15, the Bulls played their first 10 games on the road, but finished the calendar year with 19 wins in their final 20 games on the way to a 37-9-1 finish and another West Division title. The playoff story was much the same as in previous years, with a two-game sweep of the Twin City Steel and a three-game triumph over Granite City in the division finals where each team won on its home ice. In round-robin play at the Silver Cup Tournament, the Bulls defeated Granite City, the West Michigan Wolves and the Great Falls Americans. The Lumberjacks won the tournament's championship game, and defeated the Bulls again in the national tournament in Simsbury, Connecticut. However, with three teams finishing 2-1 in pool play, North Iowa and the Northern Cyclones advanced to the title game, with the Bulls winning the championship game by a 2-1 score.
North Iowa raced through its 2015-16 season to a 42-2-3 finish after moving to the Central Division, including a 27-game winning streak and a league-record 57 goals from captain Brett Gravelle. The Bulls dispatched the Rochester Ice Hawks and La Crosse Freeze in two-game sweeps to reach the Silver Cup Tournament for the fourth straight year. Wins over the Yellowstone Quake and Great Falls pushed the Bulls through pool play - an overtime win over Twin City and a 4-1 victory over the Metro Jets gave them their third national championship in four seasons.
The Bulls earned their fifth straight trip to the Silver Cup national tournament the following season, with another division title and a 35-10-1-1 finish in the regular season. As they had done the previous season, North Iowa swept Rochester and La Crosse in two games apiece to move to the Silver Cup tournament, and the Bulls won two games against the Long Beach Sharks and Binghamton Jr. Senators in pool play. However, an overtime win and a loss to Yellowstone cost the team its chance to advance beyond pool play. North Iowa won one more Central Division title in 2017-18, going 39-4-2-2 and sweeping the new Wausau RiverWolves in two games in the first round. The Freeze would shock the Bulls with a two-game sweep in the Central Division finals, sending them home without a tournament appearance for the first time since their inaugural season.
North Iowa finished in second place in their return to the West Division in 2018-19, going 32-12-3 and finishing behind Granite City with 67 points. The Bulls and the new-look Rochester Grizzlies went the distance in the first round of the playoffs, with each team winning its home games in a three-game series. The Alexandria Blizzard stunned Granite City in a three-game first-round series, advancing to their first-ever West Division Finals before the Bulls swept them away in two games. North Iowa split its first two games at the Fraser Cup national tournament with a loss to the Lewiston/Auburn Nordiques and a win over Helena, but ended their run with a 3-1 loss to the eventual champion Texas Jr. Brahmas in the semifinals.
The Bulls regained the West Division crown in 2019-20, going 38-7-2 for the season and winning all of their final eight games. The team also moved out of its longtime home at the North Iowa Ice Arena, moving downtown to the new Mason City Multipurpose Arena at midseason. The team drew record crowds in its new home, averaging 1,585 fans over its first 11 games before seeing its season come to an abrupt end with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March.

Season-by-season records

USA Hockey Tier III Junior Hockey National Championship

YearRound RobinRecordPlaceSemifinalChampionship
2013W, 5–2 vs. New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs
W, 7–0 vs. Bellingham Blazers
W, 5–1 vs. Twin Cities Northern Lights 		3–0–01st of 4
National Pool		OTW, 3–2 vs. Helena Bighorns W, 6–2 vs. Twin Cities Northern Lights
National Champions
2014W, 5–0 vs. Florida Jr. Blades
W, 5–1 vs. Dells Ducks
W, 11–2 vs. Boston Bandits 		3–0–01st of 4
Pool C		W, 5–1 vs. Northern Cyclones L, 1–4 vs. Boston Junior Bruins
2015W, 3–1 vs. Northern Cyclones
W, 2–1 vs. Dells Ducks
L, 3–4 vs. Granite City Lumberjacks 		2–1–02nd of 4
Div. 1		Not playedW, 2–1 vs. Northern Cyclones
National Champions

Alumni

The Bulls have advanced a number of players on to higher levels of junior hockey like the North American Hockey League, as well as NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III and ACHA college programs.

Division I