After proving they can both crush and compete under pressure on the ice, the Wakatipu Wild have skated into first place in the New Zealand Women’s Ice Hockey League regular season standings.
Last weekend, the Queenstown women’s ice hockey team put on an absolute clinic against the Dunedin Thunder women during two home games, securing their spot at the top of the table.
Last Friday night, the home team dished out a 15-1 drubbing, before a grittier 3-1 win last Saturday.
Coach Colin McIntosh says the games showed the Wild can get the job done no matter the level of pressure, but having a crowd at the Queenstown Ice Arena to help ramp up the home team’s determination was also key.
‘‘Any time you can have a couple hundred people in there supporting you, it’s gonna make you go a little bit harder.’’
Going into finals this weekend, Wild will play fourth-placed Thunder in the knockout semi-final today in Dunedin — the winner, regardless of their form throughout the rest of the season, will advance to tomorrow morning’s gold final, while the loser will play off for bronze.
However, the Wild’s season track record bodes well.
They’ve only dropped one game all season and, considering the defeat occurred against the Canterbury Inferno in overtime, McIntosh says it’s quite a feat.
‘‘Just from top to bottom, we have the strongest team and we’ve shown that through six games.
‘‘We’ve got a good core block of players — we have Kellye Nelson, Lova [Holmqvist], Gabby Mills up front and we’ve added Gina Davis over the summer, a big addition because she’s full of energy and speed.’’
The dominant line, paired with the team’s skill and speed, sets up the finals weekend to be a fun one to watch, McIntosh says.
‘‘If we win two games it means we win the league and everyone knows that’s been our goal all season … if they play like we know they can, it should happen for us.’’
