GAME PREVIEW: IOWA WILD VS. TEXAS STARS

Dec 31, 2025

Iowa Wild (10-20-0-1; 21 pts.) vs. Texas Stars (10-15-3-1; 24 pts.) 

The Iowa Wild and Texas Stars square off on Wednesday at 5 p.m. for New Year’s Eve Bash, presented by Greater Des Moines Partnership, Pizza Hut & 93.3 KIOA.    

WATCH: MC22, AHLTV on FloHockey 

LISTEN: 1460 AM and 106.3 FM on KXnO 

ALL-TIME SERIES 

All-Time Iowa Wild Record: 36-41-9-4 (16-23-3-3 at Iowa, 20-18-6-1 at Texas) 

Last Time: Iowa defeated Texas 4-1 at Casey’s Center on Tuesday evening... Riley Mercer stopped 28-of-29 shots to remain unbeaten through three games to start his AHL career... Dylan Gambrell registered three assists for the Wild... Hunter Haight picked up two assists for Iowa... The Wild went 2-for-3 on the power play 

2024-25: The Wild went 3-3-1-1 against the Stars in 2024-25... Ben Jones led Iowa skaters in points (4-8=12)... Samuel Hlavaj finished 1-2-0 against Texas with a 3.56 GAA and a .885 SV%... Antonio Stranges led the Stars with 10 points (5-5=10) against the Wild... Magnus Hellberg went 3-2-0 with a 2.20 GAA and .930 SV% 

TEAM NOTES 

SEASON SERIES: Iowa has opened the season series with four wins in a row over Texas... The Wild have not allowed a first or second period goal to the Stars... Iowa has outscored Texas 12-3... Iowa has scored the first goal in all four meetings 

PLAY BY PERIOD: Iowa broke a three-game scoreless streak in second and third periods on Tuesday... The Wild have outshot opponents in six second periods in a row 

FOUR SCORED: The Wild scored four goals in a game for the first time since Dec. 14 at Manitoba (four games) on Tuesday... Iowa had scored seven goals in the last four games... The Wild are 3-0-0 when scoring four or more goals this season 

GOING STREAKING: Iowa has won three games in a row... The last time the Wild won three in a row came from Apr. 2-6, 2025 

ROOKIE SENSATION 

• Riley Mercer has started his AHL career with three consecutive wins 

• The rookie goaltender has allowed just two goals in his three starts (0.65 GAA) 

• Mercer has made 74 saves and carries a 0.974 save percentage 

• Mercer led the QMJHL in SV% (0.925) in 2024-25 and ranked T-2nd in the league in wins (31) in 2023-24 

HOT HANDS 

• Dylan Gambrell notched his first multi-point game in an Iowa uniform on Tuesday (0-3=3) 

• Gambrell has five points in his last three games (1-4=5) 

• Hunter Haight added two assists to register his third two-point game of 2025-26 

• Bradley Marek scored his fifth goal of the season and trails his previous career high (8, 2024-25) by three 

• Ben Jones has goals in back-to-back games 

For more information on Iowa Wild hockey, please visit www.iowawild.com. Fans can purchase single-game tickets through the team’s website at www.iowawild.com. Group tickets (10 or more), suites, Wild 365 memberships or premium tickets can be purchased by contacting the Iowa Wild Ticket Department at 515-564-8700 or tickets@iowawild.com. Season tickets for 2026-27 are on sale now. Fans can purchase season tickets for the upcoming season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365. 

Visit http://www.iowawild.com/pressbox for the latest news and information from the team including press releases, game notes, multimedia content, and daily statistics.   

Iowa Wild games are now streaming on AHLTV on FloHockey. Fans can visit FloHockey.tv now to create a free account, purchase subscriptions for the 2025-26 season, and watch all Iowa Wild games online.