Queenstown's ice hockey team, the Southern Stampede, suffered a 5-4 loss to the Canterbury Red Devils in the national league final in Christchurch on Sunday night.
Southern Stampede manager Charlie Reid said the two teams were closely matched, having beaten each other twice this season.
The score was 1-0 to the Stampede after the first period, and 4-2 to the Red Devils after the second.
The Stampede scored two more goals to equalise in the third period, but the Red Devils scored another goal with seven minutes remaining.
Brett Speirs, Stacey Rout, Braden Lee and Simon Glass scored for the Southern Stampede.
The Stampede won the league in 2005 and 2006 but this is the first win for the Canterbury Red Devils.
Reid said he was happy with the Southern side's performance this season.
"It's been a very successful season.
"The boys have really taken ownership of the team and the results have come through.
"Second out of five teams is not a bad result," he said.
The team will have a couple of months off before getting back into training for next season, he said.
