Sunday morning hockey at Centennial Arena had all the makings of a statement game, and the Wings delivered. Squaring off against the Halifax Hawks for the first time this season, the Wings dug in, played heavy, and skated away with a hard-earned 3–2 win.

From the opening puck drop, it was end-to-end stuff. Both teams traded chances and emotions ran hot, with whistles coming early and often. The first period felt more like playoff hockey than a Sunday morning tilt, finishing 2–2 after a back-and-forth frame that saw momentum swing by the shift. By the final buzzer, a combined 24 minutes were served in the box, but the Wings stayed disciplined when it mattered most.

The turning point came in the third. With the Hawks pressing and tempers flaring, the Wings went to work on the power play. #7 Blake Matthews buried the eventual game-winner, snapping one home and giving the Wings a 3–2 lead they wouldn’t give back. From there, it was all about composure, structure, and grinding it out—textbook “bend but don’t break” hockey.

Holding things together on the back end was Player of the Game, #11 Matthew Skoke, sponsored by Assante. Skoke was a calm force all morning—gapping up, holding the blue line, battling hard in front of the net, and keeping his cool when the Hawks tried to stir things up. A big-time D-zone performance when the game needed it most.

Final Score: Wings 3, Hawks 2

DARTMOUTH, NS — Under the bright lights at the RBC Centre, the Wings and Dartmouth Whalers put on an absolute grinder of a Thursday night matchup — the kind of game where every shift felt like a playoff battle and every shot could’ve swung the momentum. When the dust settled, the scoreboard read 1–1, but the heart, grit, and chaos packed into those final minutes felt like a full highlight reel.

The first period? Pure fire.

Fast-paced, coast-to-coast, no-room-to-breathe hockey. Both squads were trading chances, finishing checks, and pushing the tempo, but neither could solve the opposing tendy. It was scoreless, but not even close to boring — more like the calm before the storm.

The breakthrough finally came midway through the second. At 6:22, #2 Cooper Norris jumped on a beauty setup from #6 Holden Campbell and #8 Lucas Van Dusen, wiring home the first goal of the night. The Wings bench erupted, and suddenly the momentum was red and white. From there, it looked like the Wings might lock this thing down with a classic one-goal grinder.

And then… the final minute happened.

With 41 seconds left, the Wings were whistled for a penalty, putting them on the kill at the worst possible time. Dartmouth pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, creating a 6-on-4 chaos zone with the draw deep in the Wings’ end. The puck dropped — instant mayhem. A scramble. Sticks everywhere. Bodies everywhere. Somehow the Whalers kicked the puck loose, pushed it back to the point, and their D stepped into a missile.

Through a hard screen, he ripped an absolute bar downsky sniper, the kind that nobody sees until it’s already rattling the mesh. Wings goalie Joey Chidiac tracked the shot by instinct alone, flashing leather and missing the puck by literal millimetres. Unreal effort — just a perfect shot through traffic.

With 36 seconds left on the clock, the Whalers tied it 1–1.

The Wings pushed for a late miracle but time ran out, leaving both teams with a hard-earned point in a game that felt like a war from start to finish.

Tonight’s Player of the Game, sponsored by Integrated Staffing and MacKinnon & Olding Ltd., went to #5 Carson Ellis — a D-man who has become the guy for blue-line bombs and bar-down beauties. Ellis played with heart, hustle, and a whole lot of swagger, eating minutes, shutting lanes, and battling every shift. If the game had gone to overtime, he might’ve ended it himself.

A tie on paper, but one of those gritty, character-building nights that shows exactly what this Wings team is made of.