“We never played hockey in England but we used to watch all the top professional games. We lived about an hour outside of Oxford and it was a further hour on to the Ice Rink. My dad always loved the sport, he has never played, but he got all of us to go to our first game and after that we continued following for years,” said Dallimore. That team the family followed was the Bracknell Bees, which at that time was a top Division 1 team in the British National League (BNL), which is now known as the British Elite League.

So it is no surprise that as soon as they arrived in Christchurch and found they were a stone’s throw from a rink, all three boys got heavily involved in all the development, high school and club hockey they could.

Being the youngest, Liam was able to take greater advantage of what Canterbury had to offer and at 22 he has already played five seasons with the Red Devils, along with representing New Zealand in the under-18 and 20 teams.

Like most up and coming players in New Zealand, Liam has taken his opportunities to gain overseas hockey experience. With a lot of help from Canterbury Ice Hockey Association’s head coach Dean Tonks he was able to go back home for a couple of seasons.

“When I was fifteen, I went back to the UK to play a season for my hometown team the Oxford City Stars, and I played for the under-16 and under-18 teams. A couple of years later I went back and played for the Guilford Flames and that was Division 1.”  Liam remembers, “I was coached by Milos Melicherik at the Flames and he had a big impact on my game.” Melicherik had played in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and German leagues before becoming a star player and coach for the Flames.

A further opportunity to go overseas came in 2016 when he went to Germany.  “We had a American guy here two years ago playing in the Red Devils called Matt Puntureri, he was in contact with the team over there and he was going to play in the senior team and he heard they wanted a player for the junior team and asked someone to go, and I put my hand up,” explains Dallimore.

On being in a European hockey environment Liam says, “Playing in Germany was way different. Not as much a physical style – more space, more skills, and just the awareness of the whole game.” He got to train with the senior team as well, “I was training 4 or 5 times a week with games on the weekend – the senior guys were amazing in terms of what they gave.”

Liam went back to Germany the following year and has some advice for young aspiring players here: “I would definitely recommend trying to go overseas – it’s a different style, a lot more time on the ice, and you get to improve because coaches there always focus on development.” At the same time Liam acknowledges he has had great coaches all along the way at home as well, “I had Janos Kaszala at under-15, Anatoly Khorozov at under-16 and for Red Devils, Jonathan Albright was my first under-16 national coach, Stacy Rout for the under-18 national coach, and of course Dean Tonks – if you want to go overseas to play hockey talk to Dean he will point you in the right direction. He set everything up for me.”

This is Liam’s sixth season with the Red Devils and like all young players he aspires to represent NZ at the highest level and play for the Ice Blacks.

A major concern for Liam is his size. “I’m a skinny guy and I have tried to do everything to put on weight and it doesn’t help that I had glandular fever a few years ago. I also had a season ending injury last year.  If I want to make it I need to be bigger.”  To this end he stated, “I go to Chris Eaden’s gym (The Eaden Project) and that’s how I’m putting on a bit of weight – he’s my personal trainer and I’d recommend him to everyone.”

In closing our chat, Liam mentioned again how important his father has been for his hockey career, “My dad is the main person for my hockey and he’s a good mate too. It’s a sport he loves and he always supports me.”

He also gave a very upbeat assessment of his current team and their prospects, “Everything is an improvement over last year – what we have this year is everyone’s positive, we are rebuilding. We’ve lost a lot of players and we have a lot of very talented young players. So our core group has to make sure everyone’s keeping a level head. We’ve got the right management and coaching to make it all work.”

Main photo: Mike Froger

Round 4 of the NZIHL season was local derby round and also split across two weekends as the league stepped onto the ice under the bright lights of Spark Arena to play the curtain raiser for the Ice Hockey Classic ahead of USA v Canada.

JUNE 15

The defending champs played their first game at home in the comfy confines of the Queenstown Ice Arena and it was looking good early on – jumping out to a 2-0 lead that included a very Matt Schneider-esque goal by none other than the captain himself, Matt Schneider.

The Dunedin Thunder stayed close with the Stampede throughout the game but just couldn’t stick with them in the 3rd period as the Queenstown crew pulled away to win 5-2.

For the first time this season NZIHL leading scorer Paris Heyd was held pointless, which was one of the keys to victory for the Skycity Stampede.

JUNE 16

The first taste of Auckland’s cross-town rivalry didn’t disappoint and proved to be one of the best games of the season so far.

It was a true game of throw a punch, take a punch, and then counter punch for both teams. The Botany Swarm held a 2-0 lead but before the first period was over, the West Auckland Admirals had tied things up. Teams traded goals in the second and then the Admirals scored early in the third period with the hope of holding on to take the first victory between the 09 rivals for 2018.

However, the Swarm would not be denied as Jamie Lawrence scored late to force matters to overtime, giving the fans in attendance (and those watching on the live stream) something that’s hard to complain about, bonus hockey!

The 3-on-3 OT didn’t last long before AJ Spiller stripped Jordan Challis deep within his own zone, feeding the puck to Mike Verschuren for the game-winner.

Although the most memorable moment of the game came from an unbelievable desperation save by Swarm import goalie Colin Langham, who will likely feature in the ‘Saves of the Year’ after a last-second effort to deny Nick Henderson.

Back down in Queenstown, the mercurial Dunedin Thunder once again continued to surprise fans and opposition as they came back in the last seconds of the third period to beat the Skycity Stampede in their own barn.

Clearly a focus of the Stampede’s defensive effort, Thunder captain Paris Heyd was held scoreless for the second straight game, but on this night the rest of the team chipped in to provide depth scoring while goalie Kane Easterbrook made 32 saves. The result? Dunedin ended the weekend by claiming the Toa Kauhanga Riri Tio challenge trophy for the first time in the team’s history.

JUNE 22

What an occasion for New Zealand hockey! The fourth round ended with a matinée match between the Swarm and Admirals as the curtain raiser for Auckland’s round of the 2018 Ice Hockey Classic.

At Spark Arena the local teams came out of the gates firing, scoring 5 goals between them and thrilling the 800-plus fans who took the afternoon off work for the opportunity to witness NZ hockey on the big stage.

Admirals leading scorer Verschuren gave West Auckland a two-goal lead midway through the second before clamping things down in the third to finish off the round with a series sweep of the Swarm.

The Admirals have jumped out to a handy five-point lead at the top of the NZIHL standings while a tight three-way battle continues for second and third place, meaning the next couple of rounds will prove pivotal for the Swarm, Stampede and Thunder. As for the Canterbury Red Devils – they’re not mathematically eliminated when there’s still a lot of hockey to be played, but it’s not looking that great either.

New Zealand Ice Hockey League

Pos	Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	PTS	Diff	PP%	PK%	Strk
1	Admirals	6	4	1	1	0	15	10	18.18	66.67	W4
2	Swarm	6	3	0	1	2	10	6	28,21	72.41	L3
3	Stampede	6	3	0	0	3	9	15	35.00	83.33	L1
4	Thunder	8	2	1	1	4	9	-6	36.84	74.42	W1
5	Red Devils	6	1	1	0	4	5	-25	17.50	62.50	L2

Main photo: Mike Froger

As most fans will likely be aware by now, this will be the first time an outdoor hockey game has been played on such a big scale in the Southern Hemisphere. While these events have become a dime-a-dozen in North America, it will be a truly significant achievement for those players that are named.

In the curtain raiser game to the Canada v USA main event, they will face a NZIHL All-Stars selection team that is composed of current Ice Blacks, former wearers of the black jersey, Corey Downs and Dan Nicholls, plus a few imports from this season.

Behind the bench for the All-Stars will be West Auckland Admirals head coach Csaba Kercso-Magos Snr, while Canterbury Red Devils head coach Anatoly Khorozov and Skycity Stampede head coach Adam Blanchette return as the Ice Blacks coaching staff.

Puck Yeah Podcast recently interviewed Corey Down to talk about what it means to make his long-awaited return to the ice and how special it will be to play in front of a hometown crowd for the first time in his career.

UPDATE: Botany Swarm import goalie Joel Rindelaub has also been added to the NZIHL All-Stars roster.

As for the Ice Blacks roster, the return of Jake Ratcliffe will be a welcome one after tearing it up in the US Premier Hockey League for the South Shore Kings – scoring 20 goals and 41 assists in 44 games this season.

The selection of Justin Daigle could be a surprise to some considering he’s never played for New Zealand before, nor does he have NZ citizenship. However being an exhibition game and not a IIHF-sanctioned tournament, perhaps this will be a preview of the future? Daigle in the black jersey is something I want to see.

With Nick Craig out for the rest of the season due to a broken ankle, long-serving defenceman Andrew Hay gets the nod to captain the Ice Blacks for the historic event.

The puck drops for the New Zealand Ice Blacks v NZIHL All-Stars at 1pm with tickets still available via Ticketek.

The big takeaway I got from those information evenings in Auckland and Wellington was Goulet’s desire to create a legacy component with this tour. In other words, he wants to help push the development of New Zealand ice hockey.

“I see a tremendous opportunity not only to highlight the great league already present here but to have new people come out and fall in love with fastest game on the planet,” states Goulet. And he’s putting his money where his mouth is, so to speak, as a percentage of ticket sales go back to growing the game here with the use of promo codes ‘IHCAdmirals’ or ‘IHCSwarm’ upon purchase.

The country’s growth in the sport is currently at an interesting position that could be best described as a tipping point. The Ice Blacks are knocking on the door of the next tier in the IIHF’s World Championship program, the Ice Fernz impressed many during March’s training camp in Toronto, and there’s plenty of junior players looking to burst through the ranks both in the men’s and women’s game.

What will help get New Zealand to that next level is exposure, the kind that’s hard to come by in a rugby-dominated landscape for a niche sport that’s trying to break through and achieve the ultimate goal – becoming professional.

An event like the Ice Hockey Classic provides a unique opportunity for some of New Zealand’s best players to showcase themselves to an audience that may have never seen a game of hockey before. They have been given this stage at Spark Arena and Westpac Stadium, more commonly the site of the NZ Breakers or the All Blacks respectively, and now collectively NZ ice hockey needs to put its best foot forward.

Right now an army of volunteers are helping to build the temporary rinks, their efforts to make the grandest of stages for Kiwi ice hockey even possible is best described as monumental. And as they say in the ‘Field of Dreams’, build it and they will come – that’s where you come in. Without the full support of the country’s ice hockey community, there is always the danger that an event of this scale will never come back and it could be seen as a golden opportunity wasted.

Speaking more positively, both NZIHL teams are raring to show Kiwi sports fans what they’re made of. “You don’t want to miss out on an amazing opportunity to see the fastest game on the planet in your backyard, seeing some of the best athletes in the world compete, and also see how competitive and exciting the local league is,” said Botany Swarm head coach Ian Wannamaker.

West Auckland Admirals captain Justin Daigle, originally from Calgary, shares the passion of his opposition, “I’m yet to introduce the sport to a Kiwi who hasn’t fallen in love with it so hopefully this will serve as a catalyst towards new fans and players.”

The last time the Ice Hockey Classic came to the country was back in 2011. Then it was marketed as a game full of physicality – big hits with a few hockey fights thrown in. Many fans were under the impression that they might even see some of the biggest names in the game, a given I guess when it’s ‘Team Canada v Team USA’ and in the previous year we were treated to one hell of an Olympic gold medal game between the two nations.

Goulet admits that lessons have been learnt from then, explicitly describing this tour to be one that features speed and skill.

Come Saturday, Westpac Stadium will play host to an important day in New Zealand’s sporting history – it will be the home of the largest outdoor ice hockey game to be played in the Southern Hemisphere. For the curtain raiser, organisers have partnered up with the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation to have the national men’s team, the Ice Blacks, take on a NZIHL All-Stars team that will include a few familiar faces making their return to the ice, including former Ice Blacks captain Corey Down.

Being one of only a few players of Maori descent to represent New Zealand in the sport, Down is hopeful that the pace at which the game is played will inspire Maori and Pacific Islander youth to take up the sport. “The fact that we’re playing the premier stadium in Wellington is awesome. I’m excited and I think it’s going to be a great spectacle for everyone,” said Down.

After returning from Spain with a silver medal placing at the recent IIHF World Championships, current Ice Blacks captain Nick Craig is thrilled by the prospect of his team playing an outdoor game for the first time, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us, especially to do so wearing the black jersey. It will be sensational and there’s going to be some strong competition playing against the NZIHL All-Stars team.”

Sadly, Craig broke his ankle in his last outing with the Admirals but here’s hoping he will still be on the bench soaking it all in with his teammates.

With Queenstown already sold out, proving that it really is New Zealand’s own Hockeytown, the NZIHF hopes that Auckland and Wellington will get behind the Ice Hockey Classic as excitedly as their South Island counterparts have.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase our game to old and new fans throughout New Zealand. I want to grow the game in New Zealand and through these types of events we can do that in a big way. It is truly about the kids and this tour will certainly engage our youth,” said former NZIHF President Gunther Birgel.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Tickets for Spark Arena are on sale via Ticketmaster and Westpac Stadium tickets are available through Ticketek.

2018 Ice Hockey Classic dates:
June 22: Spark Arena, Auckland
June 23: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
June 28: Queenstown Ice Arena, Queenstown

Rob’s hockey journey is a great example of a player’s pathway toward a professional career in the vastly complex and extremely competitive network of clubs and leagues that constitute North American ice hockey.  It is a story of high achievement, but also about life learning and making the most of the opportunities while seeing the positives in those experiences.

Rob is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania and his father was both a hockey player and coach. From the age of three Rob was out skating on the frozen pond across the street or at the local rink, before playing his first hockey game at age four.

His father would drive Rob down to Pittsburgh three nights a week for hockey – a trip that took two hours each way. Rob made the move to Pittsburgh for high school when he was thirteen and was picked up as a peewee for the Pittsburgh Hornets, a premiere team now closely affiliated with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and after one year he moved to the rival club, the Pittsburgh Predators.

From Pittsburgh he moved up to Boston where he was recruited by the Walpole Express, based twenty-minutes south of Boston, playing in the Eastern Junior Hockey League.  However, he soon moved up to Thorold in Ontario to play in the GOLHL because they played “a wide open style of hockey with a lot of skating and free-flowing hockey.” Unfortunately a serious shoulder injury cut his season short there.

He next played hockey at Mercyhurst University where he had watched the team his father coached when he was growing up.  The team played in the American College Hockey Association’s (ACHA) Division 1 and was seen as a stepping stone to a professional career.  However, a serious concussion after 6 or 7 games meant six months out for recovery.  “It was a real blow because at that point I was sure I was going to play competitive pro hockey,” said Banks.

In 2013 he gave pro hockey one last shot. Rob knew the coach of the Knoxville Ice Bears in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) and after playing a couple of exhibition games with them he was invited to camp, but unfortunately he sustained a third major injury in 4-5 years.

At this point he decided to further his education at the university in Tennessee where his grandfather lived and where football and basketball were far more popular than hockey – the school played in the ACHA’s third division.  Banks says “It was pretty much bottom of the ladder hockey but a lot of fun”. Games started late on Friday and Saturday nights at 10:30pm, where the arena would be packed with 700 to 800 loud and often inebriated fans.

From early on in his playing career, Rob had also been involved in coaching.  His first experience came in Boston when Rob Boleta, the general manager of his junior team, had a few players help with his weekly hockey clinics.  Following their afternoon training they would travel around the Boston area and down to Rhode Island to coach at different locations for a few hours. When he moved back to Erie from Boston during the summer, he worked at an ice rink where he started a clinic for 6-7 kids and saw them develop over six years with most of the first group now playing tier 1 hockey or better.

Rob didn’t coach a team until his mid 20s when he took on a middle school team of 10-13 year olds and he says that was a bit of a wakeup call. “You start to understand what it was like for coaches when you were growing up. How to get a point across to these kids without being too hard or too nice – they just want to chase the puck around,” Banks explained.

When he went back to Erie after graduating from university in Tennessee, he worked for Brian Ramm at High Gear Hockey which is a premier provider of ice hockey and ice skating skill courses in NorthWest Pennsylvania. Robert says that the coaching side of things has “made me a smarter hockey player because when you’re instructing kids you start to pick up on things that you can use in your game”.

In 2016 Rob and Hana, who was graduating that year, decided it was time for some overseas travel. Remembering a great team hockey trip to Germany in 2011 he decided to send resumes to various companies there – when a job came up in Munich mid-July they were off.  While there he met an old hockey friend who introduced him to his brother’s hockey team in Moosberg where he began skating with the team twice a week.

It was there that he met and played on the same line as current Red Devils stalwarts Anton Purver and Liam Dallimore.  Anton was involved in coaching one of the junior teams and he suggested that Robert come down to NZ and play hockey.  After a brief stint back home in Erie, he and Hana made the move to Christchurch and now that they are settled here he says with enthusiasm, “I’m really excited that I was able to stay and am able to stay for years to come in Canterbury!”

Rob feels the difference between America and New Zealand comes down to opportunity.  He wonders what a player like Anton, who didn’t get into hockey until he was 15 might have achieved give the opportunities that exist in the USA.  He added that he has been impressed with what guys like Dean Tonks are doing here in Christchurch and other centers to develop younger players, and he is enthusiastic about any opportunity to contribute towards the growth of the sport.  Rob says all players should study the game and recommends not just simply watching professional hockey like the NHL, but picking one player and watching and learning from that player.

Rob is one of a growing pool of overseas players who are a priceless asset to New Zealand ice hockey.  He brings varied experience and knowledge from playing in the premier leagues of North America as well as in teaching young players the intricate skills required to play the game at the highest level.  Now settling in Christchurch, he brings an opportunity for the young players of Canterbury to learn from his journey.

Main photo: Josh Fraser

Catch the All Sport Breakfast with host Nigel Yalden every Saturday 6-9am on Radio Sport.

Main photo: Mike Froger

Starting with the Skycity Stampede hosting the Dunedin Thunder, the Queenstown club will be itching to play the home opener in front of their rowdy fans where the 2017 championship banner will be hanging proudly – alongside their banners for 2015 and 2016.

Meanwhile up North, the reinvigorated Botany Swarm will welcome their crosstown rivals, the West Auckland Admirals, with a fierce competition at The Hive that sees the NZHIL’s top-two teams battling it out.

This is where you will find all the game day coverage:

Over on the NZIHL Twitter we will have highlight plays from all three games posted as GIFs so you can quickly and easily relive any of the big action. And make sure you’re following the NZIHL on Instagram (@nzihl) for game prediction polls where you can select who you think will win.

Round four will be live streamed on the NZIHL’s official YouTube channel with recap videos posted on Facebook later on – and we’ve been given word that this will include the Swarm/Admirals game at Spark Arena when the league raises the curtain for USA v Canada at the 2018 Ice Hockey Classic.

LIVE STREAMS

Please note: Live streams are provided as a free service to the fans thanks to the tireless efforts of each teams’ volunteers. If you’re interested in getting involved, please contact your local NZIHL team. Live streams are subject to change without notice.

Main photo: Kate Harrison

This week we’re joined in the studio by one of the original West Auckland Admirals, Steven Huish!

He’s been with the team since the NZIHL began in 2005 but only recently retired to focus on other ventures – we look back at some of the best and worst years for the Admirals and how things have changed since those early days.

Puck Yeah is a weekly hockey podcast produced in Auckland, New Zealand. Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or with your favourite podcast app to get every episode free.

You can help us out by leaving a rating/review on iTunes too!

Main photo: Mike Froger.

It’s derby week in the NZIHL as the Southern teams face off and the Auckland teams go head-to-head in a split week as round four continues on next week with the West Auckland Admirals and Botany Swarm playing the curtain raiser to the Ice Hockey Classic at Spark Arena on June 22nd.

Thunder v Stampede @ Queenstown Ice Arena

The Skycity Stampede return to the comfy confines of their home rink to play at the Queenstown Ice Arena for the first time this season. There the impassioned faithful will be in full voice and for some, they’ll also don full face paint or colourful suits a la Don Cherry, creating one of the most exciting atmospheres in the NZIHL.

After destroying the Red Devils last weekend, outscoring them 24-5, the Stampede will now face a tough test against their southern rivals led by captain and league-leading scoring machine Paris Heyd.

While Heyd is on pace to score 26-27 goals within the short season, the Thunder have proven they’re not a one-trick pony with consistent contributions up and down the lineup including Egli, Orr, and Gavoille, but they’ve had trouble keeping the puck out as well. Currently Dunedin’s goal differential sits at -4, they will want to get that up to help in any tie-breaker situations as they eye up a spot in the Finals come August.

Both will enter the contest full of confidence as they ride the high of a previous big win – consider this a true test of where each team stands in the league.

Admirals v Swarm @ Paradise Botany Downs

Speaking of tests – calling an Admirals/Swarm derby game a ‘top of the table’ clash isn’t something that’s been said very often around the Puck Yeah offices (we don’t have one), but here we are!

And that sound you hear is the West Auckland super fans filling up their hip flasks and bringing their support across town to Botany, just as long as they don’t get stuck on the motorway somewhere. The teams split the pre-season games and fans of the league have been waiting for this clash since the Swarm came flying out of the gates.

The loser of Saturday’s game will have to wait a week for any retribution as the rematch comes under the big lights of Spark Arena before the Ice Hockey Classic next Friday.

Tickets are still available in both Auckland & Queenstown so get yours now and of course don’t forget if you can’t make it out to the games, they will be live streamed on the NZIHL YouTube channel.

NZIHL Round 4 Game Schedule:

Dunedin Thunder v Skycity Stampede – Queenstown Ice Arena
June 15th & 16th at 7:00pm

West Auckland Admirals v Botany Swarm – Paradice Botany Downs
June 16th at 4:40pm

As the Devils took on the defending champions this past weekend, the Skycity Stampede had all the signs of a champion knocking the rust off for another run. Matt Schneider and crew were held within reason for the first two periods of each game, but then the third periods occurred – allowing a disastrous ten on Saturday, four on Sunday.

Any time you are involved with a sports club, you find out early on that nothing happens in isolation. Positively or negatively, things affect other things. The Red Devils had a confluence of events that ended up sinking the weekend’s efforts.

The commitment to the 3-man forecheck was steadfast through most of the weekend and crucial to the Stampede’s success. Unable to pass or skate the puck out of their own zone, the Devils gave up turnover after turnover deep in their defensive end. The result was obvious – high conversion rates for the Stampede.

The Queenstown-based club didn’t have significantly more chances, they had better chances and stronger possession.

After going down 6-0, head coach Anatoly Khorozov switched to the young prospect Finley Forbes in net, having pulled starter Jonas Barakauskas. This gave Forbes a chance to make some positive saves, including one stretch save in particular that he had no business making. For the most part, it was about getting some much-needed experience, and that he did. So that was positive, and then there was the other ‘positive’, namely a punch-up between Vladislavs Balakuns and the Stampede’s Thomas Carson-Pratt.

Nearing the end of Saturday’s blowout, Balakuns’ frustration boiled over and the import decided to do what many annoyed hockey players have done – fight and get a momentum swing for the next day. Well, it always sounds better than it actually is. Maybe he just wanted his Sunday off, because they would of course receive their one game suspension under IIHF/NZIHL rules. However the true cost is much longer – Balakuns is out 4-6 weeks with a broken hand according to Red Devils management.

The Red Devils goal differential took a hammering too, with 14-2 and 10-3 defeats to the defending champions they now find themselves dropping from third to fifth in the standings. While not a moment of panic yet, the panic button is now visible and the safety is being removed.

The bright side is that the schedule seems to play into their favour with two weekends off in a row due to the scheduling around the 2018 Ice Hockey Classic – plenty of time to get things right again . Their next opponents will be the two Auckland clubs currently sitting 1-2 in the standings.

It’s a simple formula for the Red Devils this year. If they can transition more effectively out of the defensive end, they will get odd-man rushes against aggressive forechecking. Thus far, the offense has been no worse than average, although they may want to look at the performance of their special teams.

The problem is that if those chances are not created, they’ll never catch up against the teams that are physically bigger. The Devils have talent in areas that can easily make up for not being the biggest club on the ice, but those advantages can only pay off if you’re on the right end of the ice.

Main photo: Josh Fraser

JUNE 8

The unbeaten Botany Swarm flew into Dunedin for our first taste of Friday Night Puck for 2018 and it was arguably the game of the weekend.

Teams traded goals in the first before the Dunedin Thunder ended the first period leading by a single goal, making it the first time this season the Swarm would head into the intermission behind on the scoreboard.

Botany got it back in the second period however, scoring three before import Lucas Bombardier scored his fourth point of the night with an empty-netter and the Swarm would remain undefeated in 2018, at least for now.

JUNE 9

In Christchurch, the Canterbury Red Devils were looking to build upon their encouraging effort from round 2 as they hosted the defending champion Skycity Stampede.

After a fairly even first period the Stampede led 1-0 despite being outshot 14-12 by the Red Devils. Things didn’t go so well in the second for the hosts with the Stampede having the run of play, putting three more goals in before things got really, really bad in the third…

The Stampede poured in five more tallies before Canterbury could answer back, followed swiftly by four more goals from the Southerners, the frustrations capped off with a fight between Vladislavs Balakuns & Thomas Carson-Pratt.

When the final whistle blew, the Stampede had scored 14 goals and things were ugly in the 03.

Meanwhile down State Highway 1 in Dunedin, one of the best NZIHL players in the history of the league Jordan Challis was suiting up for his 150th career game for the Swarm – a moment he would commemorate by getting on the score sheet.

But, the night would belong to a fellow Ice Black, with Paris Heyd having a five-point night, including another on the penalty kill, leading the Thunder to victory and ending the Swarm’s winning streak. Heyd finished the weekend with 10 goals and 19 points in just 6 games this season.

JUNE 10

Back in Christchurch, the Red Devils woke up on a cold Sunday morning probably thinking, “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life, for me…and I’m feeling good.”

And indeed things started off well for the home team with Robert Banks scoring within the first three minutes of the game. It didn’t last long, however, with the Stampede quickly equalising and when the period ended with the visitors leading 5-2 it was looking like a case of Deja Vu for the home team and fans.

After trading goals in the second, the Stampede rammed home their weekend of dominance in the third scoring four more times and leaving town with two wins and doing some serious damage to Canterbury’s goal differential by scoring 24 goals to 5.

At the end of round 3 both Auckland teams currently sit a top of the standings which is perfect timing for their upcoming match-up this weekend, while the Southern teams are jammed up chasing the third spot for the all-important playoff decider for the second spot in the Birgel Cup Finals.

New Zealand Ice Hockey League

Pos	Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	PTS	Diff	PP%	PK%	Strk
1	Admirals	6	4	1	1	0	15	10	18.18	66.67	W4
2	Swarm	6	3	0	1	2	10	6	28,21	72.41	L3
3	Stampede	6	3	0	0	3	9	15	35.00	83.33	L1
4	Thunder	8	2	1	1	4	9	-6	36.84	74.42	W1
5	Red Devils	6	1	1	0	4	5	-25	17.50	62.50	L2

Main photo: Josh Fraser