Having secured three wins and an overtime loss out of four games so far, the Southern Stampede is aiming for double success this weekend against its closest rival, the Dunedin Thunder.
Stampede captain Simon Glass was unable to play the first home game of the season on Friday, due to a suspension he picked up in Auckland, but returned with force for Saturday's nail-biter.
After an easy 7-2 against the West Auckland Admirals on Friday, ''they certainly made us work for it on Saturday'', Glass said of the 6-5 win.
The winning goal was scored in the last 12 seconds of regulation time.
Glass said double-headers had been producing contrasting results throughout the New Zealand Ice Hockey League.
The Canterbury Red Devils won 9-3 against the Botany Swarm on Saturday, and lost 8-7 on Sunday.
The Stampede has played four games, while some other teams have played six, which makes it difficult to judge positions.
Glass said Canterbury has ''four wins out of six games, when we have got three wins and an overtime loss out of four games, so we're going pretty well to start off.''
Last year, the Stampede was slow to start before a powerful winning run to the finals.
''A couple of wins this weekend would be great.
''We're playing against a couple of our team-mates who have moved down there for university, so it will be interesting, playing against those guys.''
