Time to try what ice hockey has to offer

• Published date: 02 June 2023
• Publication title: Oamaru Mail

The world championship has just been completed — Team Canada clinched gold over Germany 5-2 last Sunday — the Florida Panthers and the Las Vegas Golden Knights are about to face off in the best-of-seven series Stanley Cup final, and the New Zealand season is under way

There are a lot of hours in the day that you could just sit and absorb top hockey.

Even better, why not travel down to Dunedin or go up to Christchurch one weekend and take a game in live and see what the fuss is all about.

There are six teams in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL), three from Auckland and three from the South Island— Dunedin, Christchurch and Queenstown.

This weekend the Canterbury Red Devils play the Botany Swarm in Christchurch tomorrow and Sunday on home ice at the Alpine Ice Arena

The Dunedin Thunder are playing the West Auckland Admirals at Dunedin Ice Stadium both tonight and tomorrow night.

Reigning champion the Queenstown Stampede opened its New Zealand Ice Hockey League campaign with a pair of relatively comfortable wins at the Dunedin Ice Stadium a fortnight ago.

The 8-2 and 6-2 scorelines were at least an early signal to the retooled Dunedin Thunder that plenty of work is needed in the coming weeks to get up to speed.

Notable was the sheer dominance of the Stampede when it came to shots on goal.

The Stampede fired in 63 shots to the Thunder’s 30 in the opening game, and a whopping 66 to 20 in the second clash.

New American import Brendan Walkom made quite the splash in his debut for the Stampede, scoring four goals and adding two assists in the opening game.

Fellow forward Colin McIntosh added a goal and no fewer than five assists, the other...