A self-confessed bits-and-pieces player, Alastair Punler has had a longer road than many to the 100-game milestone for the CD Dodd Perth Thunder, and as he approaches the milestone this Saturday, the defenceman sat down with ThunderTV’s Jordan Scardetta to chat about what it meant to hit triple figures in the AIHL.

JS: AL, you’re about to play your 100th game weekend. It feels like it’s been a long time coming, like you’ve been around the team forever, how does it feel?

AP: It’s good, I’ve been around the club since I was a kid just watching games. Me, Kieren Webster and Lynden Lodge used to sit in the corner and watch a lot of games, and now we’re all starting to get towards that 100-game mark. It’s a pretty good feeling to play alongside those kids you grew up with, and secure a spot in the team over the last five years.

JS: It’s been a bit of a change for you this year in that you have a more consistent role in the line-up, what’s that been like for you?

AP: This year and last year have been much more consistent for me, even the year before as well. I’ve never played a full season, always 24 games or so due to my choice because of university, or due to other factors, or the coaches choice, I’ve always missed a handful of games here and there. We’re quite short on defence this year. If one guy doesn’t rock up to practice, we get pretty salty because we don’t have that many defencemen at the moment.

JS: The defence corps has been a bit different this year; Sean Hamilton has slotted back in there for a bit of veteran experience, you’ve got Rob Haselhurst back this year as well and Dave Ruck seems to change around the pairings a bit, how has that worked?

AP: I guess things have changed a bit. Hammo is kind of our utility guy, he knows his role and brings a wealth of experience, and he just gets the job done, getting pucks out of the zone, he gets pucks deep. So when he went back on defence a couple of times he was able to prove himself there, but also even last weekend he was playing forward, he goes wherever Rucky needs him at the time.

I think the biggest difference with our defence corps is that Tomek (Sak) goes back up front this year, and we get Lynden Lodge back on defence. It’s not that new for Lynden, he’s played defence on AJIHL teams that Rucky and I have coached, so he’s played defence before. I know it’s not his preference, but if it keeps him playing I think he’s happy, and he’s definitely found his role playing defence because he’s such a talented skater and a smart hockey player.

Lynden is quite an intelligent dude, we say that defencemen are always university educated, in the Master race, you have to be smart to play defence so he fits in pretty well there.

JS: That’s pretty true on the Thunder team actually.

AP: All the Thunder defencemen, Woody (Jamie Woodman), (David) Kudla, myself and Lynden are all currently at university, so I think it’s a trend: you have to be smart to fit in on defence.

JS: Mo (Rob Haselhurst) as well?

AP: Yeah he’s got a degree, he just doesn’t use it. I think he’s got an environmental engineering degree or something. So that makes four engineers and a chiropractor in training on the back end.

JS: So, talk about those early years with the Thunder, when you were in and out of the line-up, playing every second game or so, a lot of healthy scratches, a lot of time in the stands watching. What was that like in your formation as a player?

AP: I think I knew where I stood with that. 2014 was my first year; I came back from playing overseas in Canada, I’d just finished high school and was about to start university, and I thought maybe I’d slot in to a healthy scratch and every now and then play a home game. I didn’t get the call for that, I just sort of practiced the odd practice here and there, which was kind of disappointing.

The next year with a coaching change I kind of got a look-in, but still in a lot of those games I barely got on the ice. I’d say under he Kenway regime, I didn’t play a lot at all. When it came to the coaching change with Dave Ruck, things looked up for me. Rucky has coached me since I started playing at around 11-12 years old, so he gave me an opportunity, and I think all I needed was that opportunity to work hard.

It’s about persistence: you can’t come in to any sport in general thinking you’re just going to get your opportunity. No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, you have to work for your opportunity, and I think everyone on the Thunder team has experienced that. You have to ride the bench for a bit to get there, and when you get your opportunity you have to capitalise, and even more so in hockey.

You can make one poor decision in a hockey game, and because of the number of guys on the bench, that can be your game done. So it takes time, sometimes you’re going to make poor decisions and pay the consequences for them, sometimes you’re not, and it takes time to work in to the line-up.

Some people might not realise I’ve played 100 games and go “oh, really?” I guess because I was on the bench for a lot of it. I was in and around the club for a long time, and it’s been a long ride to get here. I’m definitely a role player, I’m not even getting 20 points per season you know. I’m just out there getting the puck in, getting the puck out of our zone, just being solid I guess. I’m happy I’m able to reach this achievement, my skill set is not that of guys like Kieren Webster and Jamie Woodman, so I’m pretty stoked to get there.

JS: Have to ask the cliché question: do you have a favourite moment in your first 100 games?

AP: I can still vividly remember my first goal, it was the first year I played. I’d been out the night before, remember this was the Dave Kenway era and I wasn’t playing very much, and it was the year of 21sts for me, so friends were having big birthdays. The day before I hadn’t played, so I thought sweet I’m not playing this weekend, I’ll go out, and then I ended playing a fair bit. That always seemed to be the case my first couple of years, if I didn’t think I was playing I’d play, and if I thought I was playing I wouldn’t play.

One of the imports passed me the puck and I managed to score, this was against the poor Ice Dogs when they were struggling, and I get back to the bench, and Richie (Team Manager Richie Lamb) says to Tomek (Sak) “how mad are you that Punler scored before you?” Tomek’s response was “hey but Woody hasn’t scored yet either and he’s got two years on us.”

That moment really sums up our group: I enjoy being around the guys more than playing most of the time. It’s a lot of small memories like that, banter and stuff we’ve got up to and games we’ve managed to snatch like last weekend that’ll always great memories.

JS: Any thoughts on this year? It was a bit of a weird schedule to start the year and now it’s all starting to open up for you, and you have a chance to grab third spot.

AP: We’re in a poised position I think, because of the nature of a lot of imports, they take time to adjust because we are not as talented as other guys they’ve played with. We’re not going to give them the puck where the want it all the time, we’re not capable of giving guys the stretch pass they always want, so it takes them time to adjust.

I’m honestly glad we played four games against CBR early. They’ve only lost one game, they’re the best team in the league by far. We’re looking down the finals spots, and there’s the Bears, us, the Mustangs, the Ice Dogs and the Ice looking at two positions. All of those teams have multiple games against CBR. Ben Breault mentioned to us that four games against CBR and four games against Adelaide should wash each other out completely, you should win four, and you may lose four.

With the standings the way they are now and the Ice Dogs being one of our major competitors, if we can get six points this weekend, we can put a nail in the coffin for them hopefully. We can give ourselves enough distance from them that it becomes a three-horse race.

No one (on the Thunder) is surprised with how this season has gone. We dropped a game to the Bears, we dropped some games to Canberra, we dropped a game to the Mustangs, none of that is a surprise. We came out of the series against Adelaide with four wins, which was important, and we came out of last weekend with a win, which was important. Fans might be surprised, and the way the schedule works it looked like we were out of the finals race early on, but I don’t think anyone in the room thought we were out of it.

All of our games between now and the end of the year will be crucial, and I know Stan (Scott) will be having a heart attack thinking “when can I book (flights) for finals”, but it will be down to 2-3 weeks left in the season before it’s decided, but if we take care of the Ice Dogs this weekend, he might have a little more faith.

JS: Any other thoughts on reaching 100 games this weekend?

AP: Honestly I’m stoked. I was looking at the list of most games played for the Thunder, and I thought geez I’m number 11 now. I was incredibly surprised by that, and even my Dad was like “how did you manage that?” When I think about it, even after 50 games I was stoked, so maybe if I think about it I can do something a bit more fancy this weekend, put a muffin in the net.

JS: I’ll wait for a fancy dangle from you then.

AP: No dangles, just dumps and shots, if it’s anything it’s going to be garbage.

JS: Thanks for doing this, and again congratulations on 100 games.

AP: No problem.