MASON CITY, Iowa – The Mason City Toros appeared on the junior hockey scene with authority in 2021-22, coming up one win short of heading to the North American 3 Hockey League’s Fraser Cup tournament to defend the North Iowa Bulls’ Fraser Cup title from the previous season. As the Toros look to make their first trip to St. Louis in 2023, the schedule will be as rugged as ever, following Wednesday’s schedule release from the NA3HL.
Mason City’s 2022-23 slate includes 22 home games, 22 away games and three games at the NA3HL Showcase, which is scheduled for December 19-21 at the National Sports Center Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota. This year’s home schedule for the Toros will have a particularly sunny disposition, with seven Sunday afternoon home games at the Mason City Arena. Saturday, however, will remain the most prominent day on the team’s home schedule, with nine Saturday home contests. Only two of those nine will be played as day-night doubleheaders with the North Iowa Bulls, the Toros’ sister team in the North American Hockey League. Five of the remaining home contests will be played on Friday nights, with one Thursday night home tilt as well.
The 2022-23 season begins on the road, with back-to-back weekend road trips to face the Minnesota Loons on September 16 and 17, and the New Ulm Steel on September 30 and October 1. The defending Fraser Cup champion Rochester Grizzlies make the short trip to the River City on Friday, October 7 as the home schedule gets underway, while the Toros make the return trip to the Med City the following night.
The first encounter with the arch-rival Granite City Lumberjacks comes the following weekend, and a four-game stretch against the Alexandria Blizzard begins with a pair of Mason City home games on October 21 and 22. The season’s first matchup against 2022 West Division semifinal foe Willmar comes on Sunday, November 6 – that game will be the Toros’ only home game of November before the team returns to the road to face Granite City (Nov. 11-12) and Minnesota (Nov. 18-19).
The home slate heats up in December with four contests in an eight-day stretch as the Loons come to Mason City on December 2 and 3, and Granite City makes its first swing through the Mason City Arena the following Thursday and Friday. Four home games are on the schedule in January, including the first visit of the year from the New Ulm Steel on Sunday, January 8.
While the early schedule will see plenty of trips out of town, the Toros will be able to turn in the bus keys down the stretch – all of the team’s final 10 games of the year, and 13 of the last 14, are set to be played on home ice. A weekend pair on Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5 against the Alexandria Blizzard will mark the end of the regular season, with the NA3HL’s Fraser Cup playoffs to follow.
Mason City’s new season will also see new puck drop times, with Friday and Saturday evenings moving to 7:10 p.m. from the team’s previous 7:30 p.m. starts. The team’s Thursday, December 8 game against Granite City is set for a 6:10 p.m. start, while both Saturday matinees and all seven Sunday contests are scheduled to get underway at 3:10 p.m.
2022-23 season tickets are on sale now, while single-game tickets will go on sale later this summer. Click here for details on, or to purchase, 2022-23 season tickets. Updated news and information on Mason City Toros hockey are always available at www.masoncitytoros.com, and by following the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
