The Stampede returned to the top of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League — at least temporarily — with a set of wins over the Canterbury Red Devils in Queenstown at the weekend.
A two-point gap over the Botany Swarm could have evaporated last night as the Swarm were playing the Admirals in the second game of the Auckland derby doubleheader.
The defending champion Stampede were predictably too strong for the cellar-dwelling Red Devils in the opening game, winning 7-1, but the second clash was tighter as the Cantabrians came roaring back before falling 5-4.
After the Red Devils took a 1-0 lead after just 32sec in game two, Connor Harrison equalised for the Stampede near the end of the first period.
Nolan Ross and Lachlan Frear made it 3-1 to the Stampede, and while the visitors pulled one back, goals to Jordan Challis and Colin McIntosh gave the Stampede a commanding 5-2 lead heading into the final period.
Two sharp Red Devils made the loyal home crowd a tad nervous but the Stampede were able to hold on for victory.
McIntosh added three assists for the home side, who had 50 shots on goal to the Red Devils’ 15 but found it tough to beat goaltender Daniel Reason.
The Stampede controlled most of the opening game.
Frear and McIntosh scored goals in the first period, Ollie Ruski-Jones and Max Macharg scored in the second, and Ross, Frear and McIntosh found the net in the third.
Ross had three assists and both Aston Brookes (22 saves from 23 shots) and Joel Gerard (two from two) held firm in the net.
The Stampede regular season finishes with doubleheaders against the Swarm (away) and the Dunedin Thunder (home).
