It’s go time.
If Queenstown’s SkyCity Stampede ice hockey team wants a home final, they’ve got no option but to win the next four games on the hop.
This weekend they’re on the road to Auckland where they’ll again face the West Auckland Admirals — a team that held them to a 3-1 loss last Friday night, before they answered back last Saturday with a 6-1 win.
Coach Cam Frear says the side came out ‘‘a little bit slow’’ on Friday and while they played well, ‘‘it just wasn’t our night’’.
‘‘It was just good for the boys to answer back and get a good win on Saturday.’’
Friday’s game started with a tribute to the former Admirals player Dale Harrop, who died in December at the age of 33 after a surfing accident at Auckland’s Muriwai Beach.
Frear: ‘‘It was the first time that the Admirals had come down here since his death.
‘‘It was just our way of showing respect — it’s been a tough season for them, their first season playing without him, so we just wanted to pay our respects.’’
That may well have provided an extra incentive for the Admirals to do Harrop proud, but Stampede’s huge comeback on Saturday means they’re still in the hunt for pole position on the New Zealand Ice Hockey League table.
Stampede’s currently in second place, behind Botany Swarm, but the Queenstown side still has four games to go, while Botany finished the round-robin a couple of weeks ago.
The Admirals, in third place, will finish the round-robin after their games against Stampede this weekend, as will Dunedin’s Phoenix Thunder, who’ll face the Canterbury Red Devils in Christchurch.
Frear says his side now needs to win both games this weekend, and the final two, in Queenstown against the Red Devils next Friday and Saturday.
‘‘There’s no rest.
‘‘For us, now, we have to win four from four to be locked into first place for home finals.’’
If they drop one game, they’ll stay in second place and likely host the Admirals in Queenstown again for a two-game semi-final series at the end of the month — something they’d like to avoid.
‘‘Home ice for finals is huge, but having that weekend off is big, too.’’
Ice hockey legend retires
Pride of place: Former SkyCity Stampede player Bert Haines’ jersey number was retired on Saturday night. PICTURE: JAMES ALLAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Then there were three.
On Saturday night, after the SkyCity Stampede ice hockey team clapped back against the West Auckland Admirals, team stalwart Bert Haines’ no.2 jersey was officially retired.
It now takes pride of place hanging from Queenstown Ice Arena’s rafters beside those of his former teammates, no.10, worn by Simon Glass, and no.12, worn by Braden Lee.
Coach Cam Frear says all three players had ‘‘huge careers that shaped the Stampede into what we are today’’.
Haines, 42, started playing for the Stampede in 2004 and was part of six New Zealand Ice Hockey League championship-winning sides.
He also played eight seasons for the NZ Ice Blacks, including six as captain, was part of four silver-medal winning sides, and one bronze-medal winning side at world champs, and in 2013 was named the World Championship best defenceman and top player on the team.
Originally from Canada, Haines says he’s ‘‘incredibly proud and at the same time equally grateful for all the years with the club, the community and the team’’.
‘‘I don’t know if I’d given it too much thought prior, heading in, but on [Saturday] a few people that were pretty close reached out and expressed some feelings on my career and impacts I may have had … I was incredibly humbled, and so grateful.’’
Frear says the team created a 25-minute video, screened in the changing room, full of messages from guys who’ve played with Haines over the years, congratulating him on a stellar effort.
