The side is eight games into the season and will face the rest of the campaign with a new but familiar face at the helm.
Jeff Avery has been involved with the franchise for several years and will take over as head coach from Travis Gibbons.
Gibbons will remain with the team as an assistant coach but felt he needed to step down from the top job so he could focus on completing his PhD.
"I’m the latest edition," 49-year-old Canadian Avery joked.
Avery moved to New Zealand about 18 years ago. He lived in Auckland until shifting south to Dunedin five years ago to work for Natural History New Zealand.
"I moved down to work for them and found that rink and was like, ‘great’."
He joined former Thunder coach Janos Kaszala to help coach junior ice hockey and two years ago was the Thunder assistant coach.
He was unavailable at the start of the season due to work commitments, or he would have considered taking on the head role.
But with Gibbons taking a step back, and Avery more available now, the timing was right.
Avery played ice hockey at school in Canada and had a brief stint when he first arrived in Dunedin in an early forerunner of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League.
He is familiar with the players, so "it is not a massive step joining the dressing room".
The Thunder has a bye this weekend but will be keeping a close eye on the results.
It is in third place and in the running for a place in the final. The West Auckland Admirals have set the benchmark this season and the Thunder has to travel north to play them in back-to-back games next weekend. They shape as crucial fixtures for the Thunder.
"If we can take two wins in Auckland then we’re off to the races," Avery said.
"With that win in Queenstown [against the Stampede], they’ve realised they can beat anybody. What I’ve said to them is you’ve got to play disciplined hockey.
"You guys have to stay out of the [penalty] box because five-on-five we have so much speed and can beat anybody.
"It is definitely possible [to make the final] but the best part is that they believe it is possible."
