Coralville, Iowa- on Thursday, October 3rd, The Iowa Wild and Rockford IceHogs each played their last of two preseason games. This time, they met Halfway at Xtream Arena, Home of the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders, affiliate of the Iowa Wild.
20-year-old Hunter Haight stole the show in the halfway clash, notching a shorthanded goal, a powerplay goal, and a third goal from range. Rockford saw a first-period goal from Gavin Hayes and the last goal of the game from Brandon Saigeon.
Kyle Masters and Caedan Bankier rounded out the scoring for the Iowa Wild.
Both teams had Heartlanders Alumni make a homecoming, where Iowa’s Masters, Novak, Calverley and Hain, alongside Rockford’s Peyton Jones, all came back to the place they called home in 2023-24.
The Iowa Wild will play their regular season opener on Saturday, October 12th at 6 pm CT in Des Moines vs. Manitoba, while the IceHogs will drop the puck on their regular season just an hour after that against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
