We’ve already packed the barn. Queenstown’s SkyCity Stampede — the defending New Zealand Ice Hockey League champions — will play their last games of the regular season tomorrow and Saturday at the Queenstown Ice Arena, and it seems tickets to see them face off against the West Auckland Admirals are as rare as a hen’s teeth. The good news is, the Stampede have at least two more home games this year, after locking and loading home semifinals following their 8-3 dispatch of the Canterbury Red Devils in Christchurch on Sunday. Going in to last weekend, the Stampede had to win just one of their four remaining games to secure the home semi advantage, but could not do that on Saturday during an absolute humdinger, which saw them come from 4-1 down in the second period to even the score 5-all with 53 seconds on the clock Coach Cam Frear says at that point he was preparing for what they would do in overtime. “And I turned around and saw the shot [from Canterbury with 2 second to go] and I was like, ‘that’s going in’. “Not ideal.” The tide turned on Sunday though in what he describes as a “statement win” — an important factor, mentally, given there is every chance the Stampede will host the Cantabrians in the semifinals, dates of which have not been confirmed. However, the league table is so tight, if fifth-place Botany Swarm can upset the apple cart against Canterbury this weekend, winning both games and at least one in regular time, they will take the semi spot from the Cantabs, who just have to win one game to secure their tickets. Meantime, if the Admirals beat the Stampede twice this weekend, they will move into second place and force Dunedin Thunder to play them in Auckland during the other semis. “So there are a few different scenarios, which is cool,” Frear says. “It means there’s a lot of parity in the league this year.” And for Stampede, there is still a lot to play for — the top priority is protecting “the fortress”, and giving the sold-out crowds this weekend a good show. “We take a lot of pride in winning games at home … it’s great for us to be able to play in front of a packed crowd. “But the biggest thing for us is there’s still a couple of big weeks of hockey left.” tracey.roxburgh@scene.co.nz
