The young team went to Queenstown for two pre-season games against the Southern Stampede and returned home with two losses.
On Friday night it was beaten 9-0 by a strong Stampede team, but improved on Saturday to be beaten 9-4.
Paris Heyd and George Coslett both scored twice for the visiting side, as the experienced players helped carry the load.
Missing several players, the Thunder started slowly but got better as the games went on.
Coach Matt Hladum was optimistic and focusing on what the team got out of the games.
''The result didn't come in our favour, but I think the players that were out there definitely learned a lot and we got better each period, so that's important,'' he said.
''We knew we were coming in with a short squad against an experienced team.
''So, after the first game, we had a talk and we did better the second game.
''I think for pre-season that's a sign things are going in the right direction.''
It was hard to tell where the team was at without its full squad, although Hladum said it was valuable experience.
''I feel that the very first period of the very first game was a shock to a lot of guys.
''I think they had a general expectation of how it would be, but it's really tough to prepare for that in training sessions.
''You can tell them all you need to tell them.
''But until you're actually out there, it's really tough to visualise and picture.
''So I think the key focus was that we got better, we just started doing some basic things that were not being done during the first period.''
The side was hoping to have more of its players available for this weekend's games against the Canterbury Red Devils in Dunedin.
''The message is going to be continue to get better.
''We're going to have quite a few trainings this week and its focusing in on just being aggressive and really wanting to get the puck more and control the puck.
''Puck possession was something we really needed to work on.
''With a more experienced Queenstown team, they were crafty, they knew how to get the puck and how to utilise the time with the puck, which ultimately that's more goals for them. So it's just getting into the guy's heads that you need to earn that puck, you need to want it and you need to want it more than the other team.
''If those are the problems we're trying to fix that's not difficult, it's an easy message to send and the guys just need to execute.''
