Sort of.
During last weekend’s penultimate regular season round against Botany Swarm, in Auckland, you could be forgiven for being confused when a second ‘Ross’ jersey appeared on the ice, worn by defenceman Davis, 30, who scored on debut.
His goal was matched soon after by his identical twin, forward Nolan.
Originally from Canada, Nolan’s in his second season with Stampede, while Davis retired from pro hockey a couple of seasons ago — he’d latterly played in France for a few years before a short stint in the UK — and has been working in his home country.
Stampede coach Cam Frear says given they’ve only been playing with one import this year, Jett McCullum, the team’s been quietly working to get Davis here for the business end of our season.
"Nolan wanted to potentially play with his brother, on the other side of the world, for the last time, so [he] ... helped us get it across the line.
"You can obviously see that Davis is a difference-maker, and is huge for us to finish the year.
"When they’re on the ice at the same time we need to make sure one of them yells that he’s a D ... so the boys don’t jump on at the wrong time."
A simple solution might have been adding first initials to the back of their jerseys?
"It probably would have helped," Frear laughs, "but we like a challenge."
That’s just as well, because they’ve got two almighty ones in front of them in Queenstown tomorrow and Saturday nights when they face third-placed Phoenix Thunder, who are one point behind them.
A double ‘W’, in regulation time, will springboard either into first place going into the semis, and relegate Swarm — who Stampede beat 4-2 on Saturday before a hard-fought 4-3 loss on Sunday — to second.
Of Sunday’s loss, Frear puts it down to a few concentration lapses which "unfortunately led to goals".
He pays particular credit to goaltender Aston Brookes who was "unbelievable" in both games.
"He kept us in the game when, at times, we were struggling to get out of our zone, or didn’t have a lot of possession."
Frear notes both this weekend’s games sold out about a week ago, which is "unheard of".
"Everyone’s raring to go ... we’re excited to play at home as well, because it’s been a wee while.
"It’s going to be a great weekend."
- SkyCity Stampede v Phoenix Thunder, Friday and Saturday, puck drop 7pm — livestream available via NZIHL’s YouTube channel
