And their coach, Stephen Reid, is hoping this year they’ll be able to right the ledger and get the Junior Stampede back into the New Zealand Under-18 Ice Hockey League champion column at the end of next month.
The league was established in 2010 — at that time, Queenstowners played for the Southern team with compatriots from Dunedin — before Junior Stampede was formed about 2016.
The Queenstown side won the league that year, and again in 2017, have come up second-best three years since and then finished in third last year.
Reid says while they’re "never happy" finishing with a bronze medal, it was a good result given they had a young team, and this year they’re reaping the benefits of that experience.
Going in to this weekend’s round, Junior Stampede’s in first place on the table with 21 points, 10 points ahead of Auckland and 11 in front of Canterbury — Junior Thunder, who the Queenstowners demolished 11-1, 10-1 in the first round, has a donut.
But Reid’s not taking anything for granted.
"I think they’re a young team ... so they’re building and have had plenty of time to train — [there are] probably more Dunedin-based players, so they can train a bit more.
"We’ve got a couple of lads that are up in Wellington, a couple of boys based in Tekapo and a couple of boys that are Central-based, so we’re not training every week ... We’re definitely not taking them lightly."
It’s also a rare treat for his charges to get to play in front of their friends and family at home.
Since Covid, the league’s been played in Dunedin, but the young players wanted to get the experience of being on the road, so this year all teams have travelled — Junior Stampede’s already been to Christchurch and will head to Dunedin for the final round of the regular season, and the finals series, from September 27 to 30.
Reid: "The kids see the [SkyCity] Stampede and the [Wakatipu] Wild get to play in Queenstown, and now it’s their opportunity to get to do the exact same.
While the immediate goal’s back-to-back wins, and then being crowned NZ champs, Reid says his charges are also out to impress selectors.
"The goal for this age group is to try and get ... our players into the national rep teams — that will get announced later this year, but we’re really hoping we’ll have a good representation from the Junior Stampede."
- Junior Stampede v Junior Thunder, Queenstown Ice Arena, Saturday, 6pm, Sunday, 2.15pm; entry by gold coin koha — proceeds towards team costs
