Dunedin Thunder
Ice hockey team in Dunedin, New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Dunedin Thunder, also known as the Phoenix Thunder for sponsoship 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 club won their first regular season title in 2013 and have finished as runner-up in the playoffs in 2013, 2014, and 2026.
| Dunedin Thunder | |
|---|---|
| |
| City | Dunedin |
| League | New Zealand Ice Hockey League |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Operated | 2008–present |
| Home arena | Dunedin Ice Stadium |
| Colours | Green, yellow, white, black |
| Head coach |  Guillaume Leclancher |
| Captain |  Regan Wilson |
| Website | www |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 1 (2013) |
| NZIHL Champion | 0 |
History
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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] |
| 2016 | 16 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 14 | 44 | 94 | 6 | 5th | Did not qualify | [10] |
| 2017 | 16 | 6 | 3 | – | 0 | 7 | 73 | 60 | 24 | 3rd | Did not qualify | [11] |
| 2018 | 16 | 6 | 1 | – | 1 | 8 | 72 | 73 | 21 | 3rd | Did not qualify | [12] |
| 2019 | 16 | 4 | 2 | – | 0 | 10 | 45 | 75 | 16 | 4th | Did not qualify | [13] |
| 2020* | 8 | 3 | 0 | – | 0 | 5 | 35 | 50 | 9 | 2nd | Playoffs not held | [14] |
| 2021* | 14 | 3 | 1 | – | 2 | 8 | 50 | 71 | 13 | 4th | Playoffs not held | [15] |
| 2022 | 16 | 2 | 0 | - | 1 | 13 | 43 | 78 | 7 | 5th | Did not qualify | [16] |
| 2023 | 16 | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 11 | 49 | 94 | 11 | 5th | Did not qualify | [17] |
| 2024 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 58 | 100 | 8 | 5th | Did not qualify | [18] |
*The 2020 and 2021 seasons were truncated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Players and personnel
Current roster
Team roster for the 2026 NZIHL season
| Active roster | Coaching staff | |||
Goaltenders
Defencemen
|
Forwards
|
Head Coach
Coaches
Legend | ||
| Last updated on: 19 July 2026 | ||||
| Elite Prospects NZIHL | ||||
Team captains