Stalwart Tristan Darling will bring up his 150th game for the club when they come up against the Botany Swarm in their national league hockey clash.
Darling is thrilled to reach the milestone in front of his friends and family.
"It’s pretty cool achievement to be able to play 150 games for the Thunder, which is the team I grew up watching and idolising," Darling said.
"I guess when I was a young fella that this would’ve been a milestone I would’ve thought would be unattainable, so the young kid in me would’ve been stoked with 150 games."
Darling joined the Thunder as an 18-year-old in 2012 and 13 years later, his passion and loyal commitment to the club remains.
Through the years, Darling, who has previously represented the Ice Blacks, has racked up 21 goals and 55 assists.
He has even had stints in Canada with the Bradford Bulls and in Australia with the Melbourne Mustangs.
But the constant battle of trying to win the national league with the Thunder — and playing with a special group of athletes — kept drawing him back.
"Getting to play alongside friends and being able to play hockey in front of my family for all of these years would be the real highlight for me."
The Thunder have a doubleheader against the Swarm at the Dunedin Ice Stadium and things are starting to heat up in the national league.
The Swarm sit in third place on 15 points from their five wins, ahead of the Thunder, who sit fourth with 12 points from their four wins.
Darling said the Thunder needed to stick to their systems, keep things simple and play to their strengths to edge the Swarm.
They are chasing every point they can get to shuffle up the table as the playoff series looms.
The Southern Stampede, the defending champions, split their results to the West Auckland Admirals last weekend, when they followed up a 5-2 loss with a 9-1 win.
The Queenstown team are top of the table on points difference having secured 18 points from their six wins.
The Admirals have 18 points from their six wins for second.
The Canterbury Red Devils are at the bottom of the table with three points from their one win.
