Stampede smashes its way to double win
THE Stampede retained southern bragging rights over the Dunedin Thunder in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League derby at the weekend.
But it was close at the Dunedin Ice Stadium.
The leagueleading Stampede beat the cellarswelling Thunder 53 on Friday night, then needed an overtime goal to win 54 on Saturday night.
The Thunder made the ideal start on home ice by jumping to a 20 lead in the opening game with goals from Noah Gregory and, on the power play, Ian Audas.
Connor Harrison dragged one back for the Stampede, and grabbed his second to make it 22 in the second period.
Bert Haines and Audas then traded goals to make it 33 and set the scene for a barnstorming final period.
It was still tied with six minutes to play when Ryan Strayer gave the Stampede the lead and struck again with an empty net goal minutes later to complete victory.
A mark of the Thunder’s ability to lift when it plays big brother is that it produced 52 shots on goal to the Stampede’s 39, but goaltender Joel Hassleman had a top night between the sticks for the Stampede.
Less than 24 hours later, Gregory again opened the scoring for the Thunder, before Strayer and Harrison netted to give the Stampede a 21 edge after the first period.
The second period threatened to be a stalemate until Matt Enright (Thunder) and Daniel Vansickle (Stampede) each scored in the dying stages.
Audas made it 33 just 27sec into the third period, and Jack Lewis gave the home team the lead, but Harrison’s second completed the scoring and sent the game to overtime.
Strayer completed a fine weekend by scoring the OT winner at the 62min 39sec mark.
Popular Thunder defenceman Dylan Devlin played his 100th NZIHL game on Friday night.
Devlin joined the Dunedin team in 2015, and has 20 goals and 26 assists in his century of games.
Both Otago teams finish the regular season this weekend.
The Stampede hosts the West Auckland Admirals, and the Thunder heads north to play the Botany Swarm.