Two games now stand between Queenstown’s Wakatipu Wild women’s ice hockey team and the 2025 New Zealand Women’s Ice Hockey League (NZWIHL) championship.
The women finished up in second place on the table and will play their semifinal in Dunedin, against Canterbury Inferno, on Saturday night — win and they’ll play for gold the following night.
Lose, and they’ll play for third place on Sunday afternoon.
They may be able to take some confidence in to their must-win semi, given they’ve played the Inferno four times this year and have only lost once, the first time the teams met, but Wild captain Kellye Nelson says they’re not counting a single chicken.
She’s aware Inferno have had a solid build-up leading into this weekend, meantime the Wild — whose players are spread all over the south — are yet to have a full team training.
"But I feel like we’ve been doing pretty good in light of that.
"I think our team’s pretty amped — the way we finished the season [back-to-back wins against Dunedin Thunder], we just want to carry that momentum into it."
While they can almost taste the gold medal, Nelson says the team’s only focus at the moment is Saturday’s game.
"We’re taking it one step at a time.
"I mean, it’s tough doing the 1 v 4, 2 v 3, because it’s just one game — you lose that first game and you could have won all year, but you’re not in the running for the gold medal.
"It just depends if we show up or not."
She says a key focus is ensuring everyone’s fit and doing their best to keep the dreaded lurgy at bay, with Vitamin C firmly embedded into their routines.
Unfortunately, they’ll be without coach Colin McIntosh, who’s returned to Canada following the death of his mum.
Nelson says he’ll still be tuning in and more than likely providing some remote coaching.
"He’s bummed [not to be here], but life happens."
But she’s hoping the team will see a few familiar faces in the crowd — tickets are on sale via nzwihl.com; Saturday and Sunday tickets provide access to both games each day — alternatively, the games are being livestreamed via NZWIHL’s YouTube channel.
"It’s a huge weekend ... we are excited [but] the only thing that matters [right now] is that first game on Saturday night."
- Wakatipu Wild v Canterbury Inferno, Saturday, 7pm; bronze medal game, Sunday, 4.10pm, gold medal game, Sunday, 7.20pm
