March/April 2026 (Volume 18, Issue 2)

 

By Michael Swanger

 

Hockey has reigned supreme in Waterloo since the Black Hawks joined the United States Hockey League (USHL) in 1962 and perhaps nobody today understands the team’s history more than Tim Harwood. 

 

Harwood, who has worked for the Waterloo Black Hawks as its radio broadcaster since 2005, and serves as its vice president of communications, also can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on News/Talk 1540 KXEL based in Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids, where he hosts “KXEL Morning News with Tim Harwood.” In his spare time, which seems improbable given his workload, he has churned out a handful of books about the history of hockey in Waterloo and the Black Hawks. Among them, are 2001’s “Black Hawk Chronicles: Five Decades of Teams, Games, and Players,” “The Legion Team: Forgotten Hockey in Waterloo” (about the Becker-Chapman American Legion hockey club from the 1920s) and “50 Thanksgivings: Waterloo’s Hockey Holiday.” (All three are available at totallyiowa.weebly.com/ and if you pull off the hat trick of buying all three you get a generous discount.)

 

His latest work, “Seniors to Juniors: A Collection of Waterloo Hockey Stories,” was released last fall and contains more than 40 stories from the Black Hawks’ distant and not-so-distant past. According to its author, more than 1,000 hockey players have suited up for the Black Hawks over the years and he selected an entertaining mix of them for “Seniors to Juniors.” 

 

They include Stanley Cup champion Brandon Montour also winning Canada’s national lacrosse title; brothers Jackson and Noah Cates winning an NCAA championship together before playing for the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers; Yuki Miura playing for his third team on three continents; the brief stints of future NHL players Bill Bennett and Roy Sommers in Waterloo; a three-part series about Jack Barzee’s “unique hockey life” before winning the Lester Patrick Award in 2021; and how scouts found U.S. Olympian Joe Pavelski. 

 

“This was an interesting project to go back and collect some of those things that I wanted to make sure didn’t get lost,” Harwood told his KXEL colleague Jeff Stein in a radio interview.

 

 

One story that will resonate with diehard and casual fans alike is that of Black Hawks Coach Dave Swick’s decision to cut Jack, Steve and Jeff Carlson from the team during tryouts for the 1973-74 season. Swick thought perhaps one or two of them might make the team, but the trio of brothers from Minnesota insisted that all three make the team or they would move on, which is what they did when they caught on with the Johnstown Jets in the North American Hockey League for the 1974-75 season. The brothers became the inspiration for the fictional characters the Hanson Brothers in the classic hockey movie “Slap Shot,” starring Paul Newman in 1977. Steve and Jeff portrayed themselves in the movie. Jack, who was playing for the World Hockey Association during the filming of the movie, was played by Johnstown teammate David Hanson. The Hanson Brothers’ propensity for boarding, body checks and brawling in “Slap Shot” elevated their reputation to cult-like status among hockey fans of a certain generation. 

 

“If you’ve been in a minor league hockey environment there are a lot of things that ring true,” Harwood said about “Slap Shot.”

 

On a more serious note, Harwood said the foundation for the success of the Black Hawks has been its performance on the ice and its family-friendly traditions. The Tier 1 junior ice hockey team that plays in the USHL’s Western Conference has won several regular season and division titles, including the coveted Clark Cup championship in 2004. It concludes its current season on April 4 with the hope of advancing in the playoffs. What’s more, fans that grew up attending games at McElroy Auditorium now bring their families to watch the Black Hawks compete at Young Arena. 

 

“Now those kids from the 1960s and 1970s are bringing multiple generations of their families to games,” he said. “It’s become a family thing, a traditional thing.”

 

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