The Thunder saved its best until the last match in its debut season, beating league leader Canterbury 6-3 in the second game in a double-header at the Dunedin Ice Stadium yesterday.
Canterbury won 8-0 first up on Saturday in a game marred by a serious injury to Thunder star James van Leeuwen.
With the odds heavily in their favour, the Red Devils let their guard down yesterday and the Thunder finally showed its potential.
Peter Lamb scored the Thunder's first goal but Chris Eaden quickly bagged three to give Canterbury a healthy lead.
Lamb replied with a sharp backhanded goal to make it a one-goal game heading into the final period, when all hell broke loose.
Damien Watson pounced on a loose puck in front of the net and calmly slotted the puck past the Red Devils keeper to tie the game.
That was soon followed by home goals to Richie Russo, Heath Dunlop and Matt Weir, forcing the Red Devils into a goalie change.
Thunder assistant Al O'Connor said the battling first-year team always knew it was capable of more than its record suggested and it was nice to finally prove it.
On Saturday, the Thunder was rocked by van Leeuween's nasty injury.
Van Leuween collided with a team-mate, the force knocking out a tooth and leaving him on the ice with a head and neck injury.
Players and fans were left looking at a limp body on the ice for nearly 30min. The game had just over a minute left but had to be called off because van Leuween needed paramedics to mobilise him properly.
Canadian and former Ice Black Mike Sam also tore a knee ligament, during the game.
The skilled Canterbury side, which is the favourite to win the league, was relentless in its attack against the Thunder on Saturday.
The Red Devils boast the two leading goal-scorers this season in Hungarian Janos Kaszala and Russian Valery Konev. The Thunder did well to keep the score at 0-0 in the first period but could not keep the Red Devils off the scoreboard forever.
Canterbury scored three goals in the second period and five in the third.
The Dunedin players showed a lot of heart and determination with their effective forecheck in the Canterbury zone but could not convert any of those efforts into goals.
