The reigning New Zealand Ice Hockey League champions lifted the Birgel Cup for the fourth consecutive time, and the ninth time since 2005, last September, and coach Cam Frear says there’s already fire in the bellies of his squad for history to repeat, again.
He notes, though, the Stampede’s opening games, against Auckland’s Botany Swarm this weekend, "are going to be a tough test straight out of the gates".
That’s in part because Botany have been on the ice for a while, in contrast with Stampede, which had their first training session this past Sunday.
"It is quite tight for us," Frear says, "because the rink normally opens close to the start of the season, so it’s nothing we haven’t done before.
"Everyone seems well ready for the season, it’s just fine-tuning the combinations, line combinations, and just spending time on ice ..."
And while Botany had a good number of players in the Ice Blacks during last month’s three-game Trans-Tasman Challenge, against Australia in Auckland, Stampede also had "eight or nine" in the mix, benefiting from a few training sessions and three tough games.
Frear’s stoked his side is largely unchanged from last year, though they will be without Connor Harrison for a bit, after he sustained an injury playing for the Ice Blacks last month, and expects the team’s imports will touch down in Queenstown in early May — which is when the league normally starts.
The 2025 season’s been brought forward to enable those selected for national honours in both the Ice Fernz and Ice Blacks to get some game time ahead of world champs, being held in Dunedin — the women’s championships run from April 14 to 20, followed the men’s from April 27 to May 3.
- SkyCity Stampede v Botany Swarm, Queenstown Ice Arena, Friday and Saturday nights, puck drop 7pm; tickets, via Eventfinda
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