The Thunder plays the Auckland-based Swarm in a double-header at the Dunedin Ice Stadium.
The season record does not match Sinclair's hopes, with the Thunder having won just one game in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League this winter. It has lost its other 13.
"We could win but we will have to play close to our best to do so," Thunder forward Sinclair told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
The Thunder's only win was against the West Auckland Admirals (7-4) in Dunedin last month.
But the Dunedin side came close to beating the Swarm in the first round of the season in Auckland, losing 3-2 in the second game of a double-header.
Sinclair believes the young Thunder team has the potential to come out of its losing streak and be a force in the league next season.
"It's been hard this season and it has tested our determination," he said.
"We have kept playing even though conditions have not been favourable to us."
The Queenstown-based Southern Stampede leads the competition on 24 points, followed by the Canterbury Red Devils (22), the Swarm and the Admirals (8) and the Thunder (2).
The Stampede's hopes of staging the one-off national final in Queenstown took a blow last weekend when it was held to a 3-3 draw by the Admirals.
The Stampede has a bye this weekend.
Sinclair (22), a commerce student at the University of Otago, started playing ice hockey in his home town of Gore 12 years ago and continued when he was a pupil at John McGlashan College in Dunedin.
"I like the pace and brutality of the game," he said.
Sinclair has been a member of the Thunder for the past two years and has his sights set on making the Ice Blacks, though he knows there is work to do to achieve this goal.
"I need to get better by improving my fitness so that I can concentrate more on my skills in a game," he said.
The Dunedin Thunder plays the Botany Swarm at the Dunedin Ice Stadium tonight (7pm) and tomorrow (4pm).
