# Dunedin Thunder

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. 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

| Season | GP | W | OTW | T | OTL | L | GF | GA | PTS | Finish | Playoff |
| 2008 | 12 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 11 | 30 | 91 | 4 | 5th | Did not qualify |
| 2009 | 16 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 15 | 42 | 142 | 2 | 5th | Did not qualify |
| 2010 | 16 | 3 | 4 | – | 1 | 8 | 71 | 84 | 18 | 4th | Did not qualify |
| 2011 | 16 | 3 | 2 | – | 0 | 11 | 78 | 108 | 13 | 4th | Did not qualify |
| 2012 | 16 | 8 | 1 | – | 2 | 5 | 77 | 65 | 28 | 3rd | Did not qualify |
| 2013 | 16 | 8 | 4 | – | 0 | 4 | 87 | 66 | 32 | 1st | Lost final (Canterbury Red Devils) |
| 2014 | 16 | 10 | 0 | – | 1 | 5 | 72 | 67 | 31 | 2nd | Lost final (Canterbury Red Devils) |
| 2015 | 16 | 5 | 0 | – | 0 | 11 | 66 | 108 | 15 | 4th | Did not qualify |
| 2016 | 16 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 14 | 44 | 94 | 6 | 5th | Did not qualify |
| 2017 | 16 | 6 | 3 | – | 0 | 7 | 73 | 60 | 24 | 3rd | Did not qualify |
| 2018 | 16 | 6 | 1 | – | 1 | 8 | 72 | 73 | 21 | 3rd | Did not qualify |
| 2019 | 16 | 4 | 2 | – | 0 | 10 | 45 | 75 | 16 | 4th | Did not qualify |
| 2020 | 8 | 3 | 0 | – | 0 | 5 | 35 | 50 | 9 | 2nd | Playoffs not held |
| 2021 | 14 | 3 | 1 | – | 2 | 8 | 50 | 71 | 13 | 4th | Playoffs not held |
| 2022 | 16 | 2 | 0 | - | 1 | 13 | 43 | 78 | 7 | 5th | Did not qualify |
| 2023 | 16 | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 11 | 49 | 94 | 11 | 5th | Did not qualify |
| 2024 | 16 | 1 | 1 | | 3 | 11 | 58 | 100 | 8 | 5th | Did not qualify |

## Players and personnel
### Current roster

Team roster for the 2016 NZIHL season
| # | Name | Pos | S/G | Age | Acquired | Birthplace |
| | Felipe Aguirre | F | R | 26 | 2016 | |
| 88 | Jonas Barakauskas | G | L | 30 | 2015 | |
| 6 | Matas Barakauskas | D | L | 33 | 2015 | |
| | Monty Brown | F | R | 28 | 2016 | |
| | Tom Carson-Pratt | F | L | 26 | 2016 | |
| | Brandon Contratto | F | R | 34 | 2016 | West Bloomfield, Michigan, United States |
| 12 | Dylan Devlin | D | R | 29 | 2014 | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| 60 | Kane Easterbrook | G | R | 36 | 2016 | |
| | David Ferrari | D | R | 41 | 2016 | |
| | Lachlan Frear | F | R | 28 | 2016 | |
| | Ryan Gruszka | F | R | 28 | 2016 | Belle River, Ontario, Canada |
| | Connor Harrison | F | R | 31 | 2013 | Arrowtown, New Zealand |
| 22 | Shaun Harrison | F | R | 30 | 2013 | Auckland, New Zealand |
| | George Hopkins | D | L | 27 | 2016 | |
| | Liam Kinney | F | R | 27 | 2015 | |
| 35 | Noah Leahy | D | L | 27 | 2013 | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| | Seamus Leahy | F | L | 26 | 2015 | |
| 25 | Guillaume Leclancher | D | L | 35 | 2013 | Maisons-Alfort, France |
| | Daniel Lee | G | L | 27 | 2016 | |
| | Gints Leitis | F | L | 32 | 2016 | Riga, Latvia |
| | Gareth Lloyd | F | R | 32 | 2016 | |
| | Jaime Meeuws | F | L | | 2016 | |
| | Joe Orr | F | L | 28 | 2012 | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| | Joel Scott | F | L | 29 | 2015 | |
| | Otto Sillanpää | F | L | 30 | 2016 | Säkylä, Finland |
| | Jaan Turia | F | | | 2016 | |
| 29 | Hunter Waugh | G | L | 28 | 2016 | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| 19 | Regan Wilson | D | R | 31 | 2009 | Dunedin, New Zealand |

### Team captains

* Andre Robichaud, 2013–2014
* Gino Heyd, 2015
* Gints Leitis, 2016

### Head coaches

* James van Leeuwen, 2010–2011
* János Kaszala, 2012–2016
* Matt Hladun, 2017–present

### General managers

* Drew McMillian, 2014
* Pete Hurring, 2015
* Guillaume Leclancher, 2016
* Alexis Robin, 2017
* Dave Richards, 2023–present