Dunedin Thunder

The Dunedin Thunder is an 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.

Dunedin Thunder
City	Dunedin
League	New Zealand Ice Hockey League
Founded	2008
Operated	2008–present
Home arena	Dunedin Ice Stadium
Colours
General manager	Alexis Robin
Head coach	Matt Hladun
Captain	Gints Leitis
Website	Dunedinthunder.co.nz
Championships
Regular season titles	1 (2013)
NZIHL Champion	0

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.[2] The team repeated their last place finish in the 2009 season, again finishing the season with only a single win.[3] The Thunder improved from 2010 to 2012, finishing the regular season in fourth on two occasions and third in the 2012 season.[4][5][6] 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.[7] The team advanced to the final against the Red Devils however lost the game 3–7.[7] The following season the Thunder returned to the finals after finishing the regular season in second place.[8] The team however went on to lose for the second year in a row to the Red Devils.[8] In the 2015 season the Thunder finished the regular season in fourth place and failed to qualify for the playoffs.[9]

Season by season results

Season	GP	W	OTW	T	OTL	L	GF	GA	PTS	Finish	Playoff	Ref
2008	12	1	–	0	–	11	30	91	4	5th	Did not qualify	[2]
2009	16	1	–	0	–	15	42	142	2	5th	Did not qualify	[3]
2010	16	3	4	–	1	8	71	84	18	4th	Did not qualify	[4]
2011	16	3	2	–	0	11	78	108	13	4th	Did not qualify	[5]
2012	16	8	1	–	2	5	77	65	28	3rd	Did not qualify	[6]
2013	16	8	4	–	0	4	87	66	32	1st	Lost final (Canterbury Red Devils)	[7]
2014	16	10	0	–	1	5	72	67	31	2nd	Lost final (Canterbury Red Devils)	[8]
2015	16	5	0	–	0	11	66	108	15	4th	Did not qualify	[9]

Players and personnel

Current roster

Team roster for the 2016 NZIHL season[10]

#	Nat	Name	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
		Felipe Aguirre	F	R	22	2016
88		Jonas Barakauskas	G	L	25	2015
6		Matas Barakauskas	D	L	29	2015
		Monty Brown	F	R	23	2016
		Tom Carson-Pratt	F	L	22	2016
		Brandon Contratto	F	R	30	2016	West Bloomfield, Michigan, United States
12		Dylan Devlin	D	R	24	2014	Dunedin, New Zealand
60		Kane Easterbrook	G	R	32	2016
		David Ferrari	D	R	36	2016
		Lachlan Frear	F	R	23	2016
		Ryan Gruszka	F	R	24	2016	Belle River, Ontario, Canada
		Connor Harrison	F	R	27	2013	Arrowtown, New Zealand
22		Shaun Harrison	F	R	26	2013	Auckland, New Zealand
		George Hopkins	D	L	22	2016
		Liam Kinney	F	R	22	2015
35		Noah Leahy	D	L	23	2013	Dunedin, New Zealand
		Seamus Leahy	F	L	21	2015
25		Guillaume Leclancher	D	L	31	2013	Maisons-Alfort, France
		Daniel Lee	G	L	23	2016
		Gints Leitis	F	L	28	2016	Riga, Latvia
		Gareth Lloyd	F	R	28	2016
		Jaime Meeuws	F	L		2016
		Joe Orr	F	L	24	2012	Dunedin, New Zealand
		Joel Scott	F	L	24	2015
		Otto Sillanpää	F	L	25	2016	Säkylä, Finland
		Jaan Turia	F			2016
29		Hunter Waugh	G	L	24	2016	Dunedin, New Zealand
19		Regan Wilson	D	R	27	2009	Dunedin, New Zealand

Team captains

Further information on team captains in ice hockey: Captain (ice hockey)

• Andre Robichaud, 2013–2014[11]
• Gino Heyd, 2015[12]
• Gints Leitis, Ryan Gruszka, Connor Harrison, Regan Wilson 2016

Head coaches

• James van Leeuwen, 2010–2011[13]
• János Kaszala, 2012–2016[14]
• Matt Hladun, 2017–present[15]

General managers

• Drew McMillian, 2014[16]
• Pete Hurring, 2015[17]
• Guillaume Leclancher, 2016[18]
• Alexis Robin, 2017–present[15]

References

1. Zielger, Claire (2012-08-23). "Distinction for all seasons". Hewitt Sports Network. Archived from the original on 2016-06-06. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
2. "NZIHL Team Standings 2007 - 2008". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
3. "NZIHL Team Standings 2008 - 2009". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
4. "NZIHL Team Standings 2009 - 2010". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
5. "NZIHL Team Standings 2010 - 2011". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
6. "NZIHL Team Standings 2011 - 2012". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
7. "2013 New Zealand Ice Hockey League". New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
8. "NZIHL Team Standings 2013 - 2014". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
9. "NZIHL Team Standings 2014 - 2015". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
10. "Dunedin Thunder". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
11. "Andre Robichaud". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
12. "Gino Heyd". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
13. "James van Leeuwen". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
14. "János Kaszala". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
15. "Team Roster" (PDF). New Zealand Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
16. "Drew McMillian". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
17. "Pete Hurring". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
18. "Guillaume Leclancher". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2016-06-06.

External links

• Dunedin Thunder