The American Hockey League team in Des Moines will now be known as the Iowa Chops. For the past two years, the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars had a triple-A affiliate in Des Moines known as the Iowa Stars.
Now, the Des Moines-based team’s part of the Anaheim Ducks organization and the name’s been changed to the Iowa Chops. Iowa Chops president Steve Nitzel says team officials consulted with a number of people before deciding to honor one of the state’s biggest industries.
"One of the things that people brought up were things about natural disasters and we didn’t want to go that route. They also brought up ideas that had to do with other teams perhaps in the NHL or other leagues and we didn’t want to go that route," Nitzel says. "We wanted to do something here that truly represented Iowa." The new team logo is a snarling hog’s head. Nitzel says the name opens up a number of promotional possibilities.
"We’ve already heard such things as our merchandise area being called the Chop Shop. Obviously the chop comes into play in terms of a fan wave," Nitzel says. "And we actually heard this rink being referred to as the meat locker." The Iowa Chops play their first game of the season October 10th at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.