Queenstown’s SkyCity Stampede ice hockey team’s suffered its first loss of the season.
In Auckland last Saturday, Stampede lost 4-3 in overtime to Botany Swarm, something captain Mitchell Frear says is a learning curve.
‘‘We knew they’d be really tight games and we had a few guys unavailable; it’s always going to be a bit tricky with a shorter bench or shorter roster.
‘‘The first game was a bit of a rough start for us and we didn’t really get our offence going, but we came back in the third to tie it up, and we are really happy to come away with points in a game where we didn’t play our best.’’
But Stampede weren’t about to walk away without a fight.
An ultra-defensive second game on Sunday — it was tied nil-all till the Swarm scored late in the second period — was tied at the final buzzer thanks to a goal by Max Macharg.
The intensity was ramped up as play went into overtime again, before rolling into a penalty shoot-out.
Frear says switching up ‘‘a few of our systems’’ from the previous night to counteract Botany’s tenacity, alongside putting away two out of three penalty shots compared to Botany’s one, meant Stampede took the win, 2-1.
‘‘We knew what we had to do and some of the young guys stepped up, which is really good, [and our] goalie was unstoppable again, as usual.’’
The physical weekend has left a ‘‘few sore bodies’’ on the team, but a double-header against the Auckland Admirals this weekend means there’s a tight turn around for recovery, Frear says.
‘‘We haven’t played the Admirals this year so far but, typically, over the last few years, they’ve been our biggest rivals, so we are expecting a very, very tough weekend ahead, but we’re confident that we can get it done.’’
Meantime, Queenstown’s women’s ice hockey team, the Wakatipu Wild, play Canterbury Inferno in their first games this season at the Queenstown Ice Arena — puck drop is 6.45pm tonight and tomorrow; entry’s by gold coin donation.
