The Stampede and the Botany Swarm are setting up a barn-storming finish to the New Zealand Ice Hockey League season.
They grabbed a win each in a thrilling double-header in Queenstown at the weekend.
Knowing they would surrender top spot in the league if they lost both games, the Stampede made a positive start with a 4-2 win on Friday night.
Lachlan Frear gave the home side the lead with a power play goal after just 3min 52sec, and made it 2-0 with another halfway through the second period.
After the Swarm pulled one back, Axel Ruski-Jones restored the Stampede’s two-goal buffer, but the Swarm nabbed a second goal just before the break to make it 3-2 heading into the final period.
It was tense as time ticked down before Stefan Amston completed a wonderful game by the Stampede’s power play unit, making it 4-2 with about 8min to play, and the home side held on through a tough and physical finish.
Twenty-four hours later, the Swarm had a measure of revenge with a 3-2 win.
The Aucklanders led 2-0 after 39min before Frear scored on the power play to set up a tense final period.
When Dylan Devlin poked one in just 5min into the period, it was game on, but Luke Simon popped up to score the winner for the Swarm.
It takes the Stampede to a 10-1-1 record and 33 points, five clear of the Swarm.
Both have one double-header remaining — the Stampede host the Dunedin Thunder on August 16-17, and the Swarm face their cross-town rival Admirals this weekend — before the finals.
The Admirals, with four games remaining, round out the top three on 23 points.
In the battle for the wooden spoon, the Thunder (five points) and the Canterbury Red Devils (four) played out an 8-7 thriller in Christchurch on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, their side of the scoreline was the seven.
The game started late because of travel delays but neither side looked fussed as they combined for seven goals in a wild first period.
William Bary and Sebastian Stephen gave the Thunder a 2-0 lead, Canterbury came back to 2-2, Bryce Allan restored the Thunder’s advantage, the Red Devils made it 3-3, and Jack Lewis completed a breathless period with a very late goal to give the Dunedin side a 4-3 lead.
The second period started with another flurry.
Ian Audas and Taine Allan made it 6-3 to the Thunder before the home side pulled one back.
A period of relative calm followed before power play goals to the Red Devils then Dunedin forward Cole Beckstead — the seventh different player on the visiting team to score — made it 7-5 to the Thunder heading into the final period.
One early goal and two late ones to the Cantabrians dashed the hopes of the Thunder who managed five penalties but zero goals in the period.
