The Waterloo Black Hawks’ first Thanksgiving game was not on the original United States Hockey League schedule in 1964/65. Nevertheless, the Black Hawks played on that holiday evening, starting a tradition which today draws thousands of Eastern Iowans to the rink each November after turkey...

For more than half a century, generations of hockey fans in northeast Iowa have given their allegiance to the Waterloo Black Hawks. Few realize that decades before the Black Hawks arrived, a long forgotten club captivated Waterloo during the late 1920s, playing in front of crowds even larger...

Waterloo, Iowa, is a long way from hockey hubs like Boston or Toronto, but the game has a colorful history in this city of almost 70,000 on the Cedar River. Scouts found future stars like U.S. Olympian Joe Pavelski and Stanley Cup champion Brandon Montour playing at Young Arena for the Black...