It has dominated the national league with nine wins from 10 games, and last weekend added an impressive record to its name.
Saturday's 7-4 win over the Canterbury Red Devils was the Queenstown-based team's ninth straight win to start the season, a national league record for consecutive wins.
The Stampede and Red Devils had shared the old record (eight).
While its impressive winning streak came to an end with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Red Devils on Sunday, the Stampede sits comfortably atop the league ladder with 26 points - eight more than second-placed Canterbury (6-4).
With the top two teams at the end of the regular season clashing in a three-match finals series, the Stampede can seal a finals berth if it beats the Botany Swarm (2-6) at home tonight and tomorrow.
Captain Bert Haines (34), the only surviving player from the Stampede's debut season in 2005, said Sunday's loss to the Red Devils gave his team a ''wee ego check''.
''You never want to lose, but you would rather lose in your 10th game than your last game,'' he said.
''It's probably not a bad thing for everyone to know that we're not invincible. Some guys know that, some guys need to be shown that.
''They certainly showed us a couple of spots where we need to work on. When you're winning all the time, you can get ahead of yourself and think you don't need to work on things. But that is a misconception - you always need to be working on things to get better.''
Haines has seen the Stampede go ''full circle a couple of times'' in his lengthy stint with the team.
It won the league in 2005 and 2006, before spending a few years as a cellar dweller.
It lost a couple of ''heartbreakers'' in the finals, and has done a stint in the middle of the pack.
Now, the Stampede is firing on all cylinders, which Haines puts down to a few things.
''It's been an incredible start,'' he said.
''Everyone is just on the same page this year. It's like anything - when you're all pushing towards the same goal, you all move a lot more productively.''
He also credited the return of Mitchell Frear from the Dunedin Thunder, the play of goalie Aston Brookes and the impact of this year's imports.
While the Stampede can clinch a spot in the finals this weekend, Haines said the team's goal after that was to clinch home advantage in the finals.
Southern Stampede v Botany Swarm
Queenstown
Today: 7pm.
Tomorrow: 7pm.
