Queenstown ice hockey fans raised the roof at the Queenstown Ice Arena last weekend, as hometown heroes, the SkyCity Stampede, stamped their name on the Birgel Cup for the fourth consecutive time, and the ninth since 2005.
Facing the West Auckland Admirals, on Friday night the home side skated off with a 2-1 win — coach Cam Frear’s full of praise for goaltender Joel Hasselman, given the Admirals had 40 shots at the net during that game.
On Saturday, there was a stunning goal from Frear’s brother, Lachie, on a powerplay at the end of the first period "when we were kind of just trying to hang on".
The Admirals answered, before import Nolan Ross netted a penalty shot that was like watching poetry in motion.
"For all of our goalies, he’s made them look silly at every training all year when we do our penalty shoot-outs and we practise them," Frear laughs.
"They had a bit of a smile being able to watch it as a spectator for once."
Ultimately securing a 4-2 win, Frear says he’s "super-proud" of the extent to which his players were prepared to fight for the title.
"It was unbelievable ... seeing guys diving, head-first, into pucks to make sure they didn’t get to the net.
"It was pretty inspiring stuff."
Frear, whose contract expires at the end of this year, believes what separates Stampede from the herd stems from their culture and leadership.
There’s also a lot to be said for the confidence within the side, and an unwavering faith they can get the job done, no matter what the scoreboard says.
It’s a credit to Frear, too, who’s been coach since 2019 — they haven’t lost the New Zealand Ice Hockey League finals since.
Now turning his attention to the NZ Ice Blacks, of which he’s the head coach for next year’s world champs, being held in Dunedin, Frear says he’d like to keep going with the Stampede for a couple more years yet, "if everything works out".
"At some point the team needs a different voice, but I just want to keep building the coaching ranks below me, so when I hand over the team ... it’s in a good position and we don’t lose all of the progress we’ve made in the culture, and the performance, as well."
Meantime, he says the team’s indebted to all the sponsors who enable players to focus on playing, instead of how to fund it, and the phenomenal support from the Queenstown community, and volunteers, all of which is helping inspire the next generation of national champions.
