[ad_1]
The current New Zealand Ice Hockey League champions raised the Birgel Cup for the fourth consecutive time and the ninth time since 2005 last September, and coach Cam Frear says there is already fire in the bellies of his squad for history to repeat again.
He observes, however, the opening games of Stampede, against Auckland’s Botany swarm this weekend, “will be a difficult test straight from the gates.”
This is partly because botany has been on ice for a while, in contrast to Stampede, which had its first training session last Sunday.
“It’s pretty tight to us,” says Frear, “because the track usually opens near the beginning of the season, so it’s nothing we’ve ever done before.
“Everyone looks very ready for the season, is adjusting the combinations, line combinations and just spending time on ice …”
And while Botany had a good number of players at Ice Blacks during last month’s three Tasman’s challenge of three games against Australia in Auckland, Stampede also had “eight or nine” in the mixture, benefiting from some training sessions and three tough games.
Fralar is happy on his team remains largely last year, although they run out of Connor Harrison a little, after he suffered an injury playing for Ice Blacks last month and expects the team’s imports to be delayed in Queenstown in early May – which is when the league normally begins.
The 2025 season has been presented to allow those selected for national honors at both Ice Fernz and Ice Blacks to get some time before the world champions, being held in Dunedin – women’s championships from April 14 to 20, men followed from April 27 to May 3.
- Skycity Stampede / Botany Swarm, Queenstown Ice Arena, Friday and Saturday night, Puck Drop 19:00; Tickets, via Eventfinda
[ad_2]
Source link
