There are victories. Then there are come-from-behind overtime wins — in front of a passionate sellout crowd — that send you into your first New Zealand Ice Hockey League final in 12 years. The Dunedin Thunder’s playoff series will go down in franchise history as one of the very best, after import Sam Loiselle slotted the decider in overtime of game two against the West Auckland Admirals in Dunedin on Saturday. They will play their Otago rivals, the Stampede, who will seek a sixth straight Birgel Cup when they host the finals on August 21-22. “It’s been a long time coming and a lot of hard work and it was pretty amazing fashion to do it in,’’ Thunder captain Regan Wilson said. “Everyone was on the edge of their seats — including us.’’ The playoffs were an aggregate series this year, meaning teams needed to win the series based on the combined score across both games. The Thunder, who last made the finals in 2013 and 2014 but have never lifted the Birgel Cup, were thumped 9-4 by the Admirals on Friday night. That left a seemingly impossible task to win the series. The Thunder came out firing in game two, going up 3-0 early thanks to goals from Ian Audas, Loiselle and Joe Orr. Benjamin De Jonge pulled one back for the Admirals to start the second period. Import Rayne Walsh added the Thunder’s fourth, Sebastian Stephen added another for the Admirals, Loiselle slotted his second on the power play and Jack Lewis banked another to give the Thunder a 6-2 lead heading into the final period. Cole Beckstead extended the Thunder’s lead with a power play goal to start the third, before De Jonge and Stephen added two more to give the Admirals a shot at the final. But Luke Stegmann and Ian Audas added late goals for the game to finish, remarkably, with the same 9-4 scoreline as Friday night. That sent the game into overtime, and Loiselle wasted little time slipping through the winning goal — thanks to a peach of an assist from Walsh — within the opening two minutes to secure a 10-4 victory and send the crowd into pandemonium. KEAPHOTOSDunedin Thunder players (from left) Ian Audas, Rayne Walsh and Jack Lewis rush to Samuel Loiselle (obscured) to celebrate after his goal secured the Thunder their first appearance in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League final since 2014. Photo: Keaphotos Wilson was proud of the Thunder’s fightback. “It was a funny vibe,’’ Wilson said. “Obviously we went down in that first game, but we had a lot of tenacity and grit. “There was never a moment before the game where we were like, we don’t have this or it’s over for us. We just knew — everyone believed that we could do it and we took it to them.” To secure the finals berth in front of the Thunder faithful was special, he said. “Just seeing the emotion of everyone when Sam scored that goal. “Everyone was on their feet. Everyone was smashing against the glass. “That support really just helps. When it’s tough times, you look into the crowd and it’s like, yeah, I want to dig deep for these guys because they’re here supporting us and loving it. “It’s an amazing feeling to play in front of such a passionate crowd and such great fans.’’ Making the final was nice reward for the Thunder, who have worked hard behind the scenes to get them to this moment. “It just shows that everything we’re doing is working and going in the right direction.” The Thunder will meet the Southern Stampede in the final in Queenstown after the defending champions came back to beat the Canterbury Red Devils. The Stampede were upset 2-1 by the Red Devils on Friday, but as all championship teams do, the Stampede put their foot down when it mattered to beat them 7-1 on Saturday. They did the damage in the opening period to go up 3-1 and stormed home from there. The Stampede are searching for their sixth consecutive title and 11th overall. kayla.hodge@odt.co.nz
