But will they be back at stake in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League finals?
Normal service appeared to have resumed when the defending champion Stampede thumped the Dunedin Thunder 9-4 at the Queenstown Ice Arena on Friday night.
The Thunder’s response was impressive.
They bounced back to win the second leg 4-2 on Saturday night to give themselves a nice shot of confidence before the business end of the season.
The Stampede (6-2-2) still have a healthy seven-point lead over the Thunder (5-5) at the top of the table but there is plenty of ice hockey to play.
At their best — and backed by a passionate sold-out crowd — the Stampede are a hard beast to fell.
And, after a rollicking Thunder start on Friday night, the Queenstowners roared into life and came within a whisker of reaching double figures for the first time this season.
Sam Loiselle and Jack Lewis scored on the power play and Luke Stegmann added a third goal as the Dunedin visitors leapt to a 3-0 lead.
That obviously woke the home team up.
The Stampede scored six goals in the space of 14 minutes in the second period, fired in three unanswered goals in the third, and finished with 44 shots to the Thunder’s 24.
League-leading scorer Conner Jean had himself a night with a hat-trick of goals to go with an assist, and both Dylan Devlin and Lachlan Frear contributed six points through two goals and four assists.
Jack Lewis added a second goal for the Thunder, while Ian Audas had three assists.
Game two on Saturday featured another stunning Thunder start.
Stegmann scored the only goal of the first period before a flurry of goals late in the second.
Cole Beckstead, Audas and Stegmann again all scored within four minutes to give the Dunedin side a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the final stretch.
Jean and Logan Campbell found the net for the Stampede but there was no time for a miracle comeback.
The Thunder managed 42 shots, and Dunedin goalie Toby Shuck batted away 28 of the 30 attempts on his goal.
The Thunder’s next assignment is against the Red Devils in Christchurch this weekend, while the Stampede do not play again until they head to Auckland to take on the Swarm
on July 4-5.
• The Wakatipu Wild beat the Dunedin Thunder 3-2 in a women’s league overtime thriller in Dunedin on Saturday.
Jessica Ryall scored the opener for the Thunder, Kelli Burstein and Felicia Goile traded goals in the second period, and Burstein scored the Wild’s second in the third period.
Burstein then laid on the assist for Aoife Orr to score the winner for the Wild in overtime.
