Defending champion the Stampede sent its national league rivals a massive warning with a 14-2 drubbing of Canterbury on Saturday.
The Red Devils were well placed going into the match in Christchurch, having enjoyed two away wins against Dunedin in their previous matches.
But any confidence the Canterbury side had was swept aside when the Stampede started piling on goals in an epic third-period display.
After leading 4-0, the Stampede scored an astonishing 10 goals in the match’s final stanza to win 14-2 and followed that up by thrashing the Red Devils again yesterday.
The Queenstown side carried on its hot form, scoring five goals in the first period before going on to win 10-3. The Thunder put its best performance of the season together when it beat the Botany Swarm 8-4 in Dunedin on Saturday.
That result gave the home side its second 1-1 round robin result after the visiting team beat the Thunder 5-3 in the first match of their two-game series on Friday.
The two sides played out an evenly matched first period on Saturday before a goal-scoring frenzy enabled the the Thunder to post its best performance of the season.
Within the first four minutes of the second period Matthew Enright, Joe Orr and Paris Heyd put the Thunder ahead 5-2.
The Swarm hit back before the end of the second period, to trail 5-4.
Those two goals would be the home side’s last of the match as the Thunder sealed its 8-4 win victory with final-period goals to Orr, Heyd and Charles Plaisir.
The Thunder could not keep pace with the Swarm in the 5-3 loss on Friday.
The Thunder led 2-1 at the end of the first period, but the visiting side added three goals to one in the second period to lead 4-3.
The Swarm sealed their win 5-3 win with the only goal in the final period.
The Thunder will meet the Stampede in an Otago derby in Queenstown on Friday and Saturday.
