That worked.
With -s "Date"
COMMAND: /usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_http -H goddardb2b.domtar.com -s "Date" -f ok -I 172.20.2.15 -u "/invoke/wm.server/ping" -S --ssl=3 -p 1243
OUTPUT: HTTP CRITICAL: HTTP/1.1 200 OK - string 'Date' not found on 'https://goddardb2b.domtar.com:1243/invo ... erver/ping' - 327 bytes in 0.176 second response time |time=0.176409s;;;0.000000 size=327B;;;0
With -s "date"
COMMAND: /usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_http -H goddardb2b.domtar.com -s "date" -f ok -I 172.20.2.15 -u "/invoke/wm.server/ping" -S --ssl=3 -p 1243
OUTPUT: HTTP OK: HTTP/1.1 200 OK - 327 bytes in 0.166 second response time |time=0.166009s;;;0.000000 size=327B;;;0
Thank you so much for your assistance. Issues resolved.