A 7-1 scoreline against the Stampede in Saturday's first game failed to tell the story of a closely fought battle but the Queenstown team made amends on Sunday with a 7-5 win.
Southern Stampede captain Simon Glass said the second game was going in the Stampede's favour with ''a pretty good lead, then we sort of changed our structure ... it didn't go to plan, so we should have stayed with the structure [of] the initial game plan''.
At one stage it looked like the score from the night before would be reversed but the Thunder then pelted a series of goals in quick succession, bringing the score to a tight 6-5 to the Stampede with minutes left.
The Thunder substituted its goalie for another attacker, but the gamble failed when the Stampede's Braden Lee scored to bring the score to 7-5.
The second game was wrought with penalties, which Glass said was an inevitable consequence of a much more physical game.
The Stampede went into the first game ''not as prepared as we had hoped'' and knowing little about the Thunder's new players, which resulted in the Dunedin team getting ''the better of us''.
Both teams held each other off for the entirety of period two in the first game and Glass said the changing room mood did not reflect the score.
''We were disappointed but not overly disappointed about how we played.
''Their goalie [Matt Canaday] had a fantastic game.
''It doesn't hurt to have a loss like that early in the season.''
With the Stampede suffering only one previous loss this season, the weekend's beating has taught them a lesson, Glass said.
This weekend the Stampede plays the Canterbury Red Devils at the Queenstown Ice Arena.
The Stampede last played the Red Devils in Queenstown in the league final last year, a match the home team lost in a controversial shoot-out.
