Dunedin Thunder Explained

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Team:Dunedin Thunder
Logosize:225px
City:Dunedin
League:New Zealand Ice Hockey League
Founded:2008
Operated:2008–present
Arena:Dunedin Ice Stadium
Colours:Green, yellow, white, black
Gm:Richard Audas
Coach:Jeff Avery
Captain:Gints Leitis
Championships1 Type:NZIHL Champion
Championships1:0
Reg Season Titles:1 (2013)

The Dunedin Thunder, currently the Phoenix Thunder for sponsorship reasons, is a men's ice hockey team based in Dunedin, New Zealand and are members of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League. The club plays their home games at the Dunedin Ice Stadium. The Thunder were founded in 2008 and joined the league as an expansion team. The clubs won their first regular season title in 2013 and have finished as runner-up in the playoffs in 2013 and 2014, losing on both occasions to the Canterbury Red Devils.

History

The Dunedin Thunder were founded in 2008 and joined the New Zealand Ice Hockey League, expanding the league to five teams.[1] In their debut season the Thunder finished the regular season in last place, managing only one win from their 12 games. The team repeated their last place finish in the 2009 season, again finishing the season with only a single win. The Thunder improved from 2010 to 2012, finishing the regular season in fourth on two occasions and third in the 2012 season. In 2013 the Thunder claimed their first regular season title after finishing on 32 points and edging out the Canterbury Red Devils only on win percentage. The team advanced to the final against the Red Devils however lost the game 3–7. The following season the Thunder returned to the finals after finishing the regular season in second place. The team however went on to lose for the second year in a row to the Red Devils. In the 2015 season the Thunder finished the regular season in fourth place and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Season by season results

width=60Seasonwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=100Finishwidth=300Playoffwidth=30
12 1 0 11 30 91 4 5th Did not qualify [2]
16 1 0 15 42 142 2 5th Did not qualify [3]
16 3 4 1 8 71 84 18 4th Did not qualify [4]
16 3 2 0 11 78 108 13 4th Did not qualify [5]
16 8 1 2 5 77 65 28 3rd Did not qualify [6]
16 8 4 0 4 87 66 32 1st Lost final (Canterbury Red Devils) [7]
16 10 0 1 5 72 67 31 2nd Lost final (Canterbury Red Devils) [8]
16 5 0 0 11 66 108 15 4th Did not qualify [9]
16 2 0 0 14 44 94 6 5th Did not qualify [10]
16 6 3 0 7 73 60 24 3rd Did not qualify [11]
16 6 1 1 8 72 73 21 3rd Did not qualify [12]
16 4 2 0 10 45 75 16 4th Did not qualify [13]
8 3 0 0 5 35 50 9 2nd Playoffs not held [14]
2021143128507113Playoffs cancelled[15]

Players and personnel

Current roster

Team roster for the 2016 NZIHL season[16]

Name Age Acquired Birthplace
R 2016
88 L 2015
6 L 2015
R 2016
L 2016
R 2016 West Bloomfield, Michigan, United States
12 R 2014 Dunedin, New Zealand
60 R 2016
R 2016
R 2016
R 2016 Belle River, Ontario, Canada
R 2013 Arrowtown, New Zealand
22 R 2013 Auckland, New Zealand
L 2016
R 2015
35 L 2013 Dunedin, New Zealand
L 2015
25 L 2013 Maisons-Alfort, France
L 2016
L 2016 Riga, Latvia
R 2016
L 2016
L 2012 Dunedin, New Zealand
L 2015
L 2016 Säkylä, Finland
2016
29 L 2016 Dunedin, New Zealand
19 R 2009 Dunedin, New Zealand

Team captains

Head coaches

General managers

Richard Audas

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Distinction for all seasons . Hewitt Sports Network . Claire . Zielger . 2012-08-23 . 2016-06-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160606070829/http://hewittsports.com/distinction-seasons/ . 2016-06-06 . live.
  2. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2007 - 2008 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160328233640/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2007 . 2016-03-28 . live .
  3. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2008 - 2009 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160328232706/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2008 . 2016-03-28 . live .
  4. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2009 - 2010 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160331124823/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2009 . 2016-03-31 . live .
  5. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2010 - 2011 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160920103048/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2010 . 2016-09-20 . live .
  6. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2011 - 2012 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160920105939/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2011 . 2016-09-20 . live .
  7. Web site: 2013 New Zealand Ice Hockey League . New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160509095446/http://stats.iihf.com/NZIHF/20/index.html . 2016-05-09 . live .
  8. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2013 - 2014 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160920095802/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2013 . 2016-09-20 . live .
  9. Web site: NZIHL Team Standings 2014 - 2015 . Elite Prospects . 2016-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160329023455/http://www.eliteprospects.com/standings.php?league=NZIHL&startdate=2014 . 2016-03-29 . live .
  10. Web site: New Zealand Ice Hockey League Final Ranking . IIHF . 14 August 2016 . 2021-06-15 .
  11. Web site: New Zealand Ice Hockey League Round Robin . IIHF . 13 August 2017 . 2021-06-15 .
  12. Web site: New Zealand Ice Hockey League Round Robin . IIHF . 5 August 2018 . 2021-06-15 .
  13. Web site: New Zealand Ice Hockey League Round Robin . IIHF . 28 July 2019 . 2021-06-15 .
  14. Web site: New Zealand Ice Hockey League Round Robin . IIHF . 17 October 2020 . 2021-06-15 .
  15. Web site: 2021 New Zealand Ice Hockey League Div I . 2022-04-01 . stats.iihf.com.
  16. Web site: Dunedin Thunder . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  17. Web site: Andre Robichaud . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  18. Web site: Gino Heyd . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  19. Web site: James van Leeuwen . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  20. Web site: János Kaszala . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  21. Web site: Team Roster . New Zealand Ice Hockey League . 2017-06-19 .
  22. Web site: Drew McMillian . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  23. Web site: Pete Hurring . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .
  24. Web site: Guillaume Leclancher . Elite Prospects . 2016-06-06 .