The 25-year-old is foundation member of the Dunedin Thunder. The defenceman joined the squad as a 15-year-old when he was still at King’s High School.
He has basically grown with the club and that initial pride he felt playing for the franchise has not faded over time.
"I’ve lived and breathed it for the last nine years," he said, while emptying a bag full of old Thunder jerseys he had brought along to the interview unprompted.
"I fell in love with it when I started playing and have never really looked back. Most of the opportunities I’ve had to travel overseas have been through the sport and I have had some great experiences playing with the Thunder and national teams."
Wilson went to Iceland and Spain with the Ice Blacks to compete at the World Championship division 2B tournament during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, which was a thrill.
Ice hockey got put on the backburner a little when he was training for the police, and he had not been as active for the Thunder during the past few years while he was based in Oamaru. But Wilson has helped out on the rink as often as he could and last year, after his appendix burst, he ended up filling in as coach for a period.
This season he should be available for most of the games and is looking forward to staying one ahead of his team-mate and Thunder captain, Paris Heyd.
Wilson has amassed a club record 116 games — one more than Heyd.
But there is an even bigger goal — winning the tournament. The Thunder has improved since entering the league in 2008 and reached back-to-back finals in 2013 and 2014. It was beaten by the Canterbury Red Devils in the one-off final in 2013 after collecting the minor premiership. The Devils won the finals series 2-0 the following year.
But the benchmark has been set by the Stampede. The Queenstown-based team has collected three titles in a row and five in total since the league was established in 2005.
The two teams have jostled for regional supremacy since the Thunder arrived as an expansion club in 2008 and that rivalry will continue in Queenstown this weekend when the clubs play two pre-season games.
"I’m really looking forward to the season. We’ve got some young talent around and some great imports which are bringing more than just skill and experience."
The Thunder has a new coach this season. Canadian Travis Gibbons replaces fellow countryman Matt Hladun. Gibbons is a PhD student at the University of Otago. The Thunder’s opening league games are against the West Auckland Admirals in Dunedin on May 26 and 27.
