The Iowa Wild, the Minnesota Wild's American Hockey League affiliate, begin their season this weekend with a pair of games against the Henderson Silver Knights at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Iowa and Henderson play tonight and Saturday night. Iowa won both its preseason matchups against the Rockford IceHogs last week by scores of 6-2 and 7-3.
Related Reading: Dakota Mermis keeps the 'C', Iowa announces leadership group
Iowa announced its opening night roster today, which features 15 forwards, seven defenseman and two goalies:
Forwards: Jujhar Khaira, Vinni Lettieri, Nic Petan, Steven Fogarty, Sammy Walker, Adam Beckman, Mike O’Leary, Casey Dornbach, Mason Shaw, Jake Lucchini, Nick Swaney, Kevin Conley, Kale Kessy, Greg Meireles and Joël Teasdale
Defensemen: Daemon Hunt, Simon Johansson, Ryan O’Rourke, Carson Lambos, David Spacek, Kyle Masters and Brenden Miller
Goaltenders: Jesper Wallstedt and Zane McIntyre
Iowa finished fourth last season in the Central Division with a 34-27-11 record and 79 points behind the Texas Stars (92 points), Milwaukee Admirals (89) and Manitoba Moose (84) in first, second and third, respectively. Iowa was eliminated in the Calder Cup Playoffs by Rockford last season.
Most Notable returners: Petan (23-29-62), Fogarty (19-30-49), Walker (27-21-48), Beckman (24-12-36) at forward and Mermis and Hunt on the blue line and Wallstedt in goal.
Most Notable subtractions: Marco Rossi (16-35-51) and Joe Hicketts (6-42-48)
Most notable additions: Khaira, Lettieri and Dornbach up front and Lambos, Spacek and Masters on the backend
Required Reading
• Iowa Wild named their captains for 2023-24 season
• The first edition of THN Wild weekly prospect report
• Wild need blueline to step up after Jared Spurgeon injury
• Kirill Kaprizov named alternate captain
