The two southern teams combined for an all-time classic in the second leg of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League doubleheader at the Dunedin Ice Stadium on Sunday night.
Just like on Saturday night, when the Wakatipu Wild beat the Dunedin Thunder 3-2 in overtime, game two went to extra minutes, following a 1-1 tie.
This time, neither side could find a winner in overtime, so it went to a shootout.
And that shootout turned into an epic.
Both goalies — Lucy Thomas for the Thunder and Jordan Wichman for the Wild — were in inspired form as they kept out shot after shot.
No fewer than 29 saves were made before Abbey Heale finally found the net with the winning penalty shot for the Thunder.
Manuella Pedrosa had scored the opening goal for the Thunder deep into the second period.
It looked like the home side were going to hold on for a victory in regular time before Jamie Harris scored for the Wild with just 1min 7sec to play.
Thomas had 16 saves behind a staunch Thunder defence, while Wichman batted away 26 shots for the Wild.
The Thunder stay second in the NZWIHL on 12 points, while the Wild stay bottom on five. The Auckland Steel are the runaway league leaders with a perfect 24 points from eight games.
The southern rivals meet again in Queenstown this weekend.
