The Southern Stampede have claimed another New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL) regular season title.
The eight-time champions from Queenstown blew out the Dunedin Thunder in two games over the weekend to move ahead of the Botany Swarm, earning the No 1 seed for the Birgel Cup Playoffs.
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The Stampede defeated the last-placed Thunder 12-2 on Friday and Saturday to collect six points, finishing with a 12-1-1-2 record and 39 points, five ahead of the Botany Swarm (10-2-0-4, 34 points).
The Stampede advance directly to the best-of-three Birgel Cup Finals from September 6-8, while the Swarm will host the cross-town rival West Auckland Admirals in the two-game semifinal series this weekend.
Import Nolan Ross and Ice Blacks forward Colin McIntosh racked up the points against the Thunder, combining for 27 points (10 goals and 17 assists).
McIntosh scored a hat-trick and added two assists, and Ross a goal and four assists in Game 1, then Ross four goals and five assists, and McIntosh two goals and six assists in Game 2. Import defenceman Jett McCullum, Lachlan Frear and Axel Ruski-Jones also had two goals on Friday, and Frear a hat-trick and two assists and Josh Hurley two goals on Saturday.
The big final weekend allowed Ross and McIntosh to finish 1-2 in the league's scoring leader race. Ross finished with 42 points (a league-best 22 goals and 20 assists) and McIntosh 39 points (14 goals and a league-best 25 assists.
The Thunder's import forward Cole Beckstead (31 points), the Canterbury Red Devils' Ethan Esposito (29 points) and Frear (28 points) completed the top-five. The Stampede had five players, including McCullum and Dylan Devlin, in the top-10.
The Southerners also had two of the three best goaltenders. Aston Brookes finished top in save percentage (93.94 percent) and goals against average (2.00) in seven games, and Joel Hasselman third (91.45 percent and 2.85) in nine games. The Swarm's Connor Parr was second (92.62 percent and 2.24).
The Stampede, who have won nine regular season premierships, will be chasing their ninth championship, a fourth straight and seventh in the last eight completed seasons dating back to 2015.