Thunder primed for Cup push

The Perth Thunder will make the trip across the Nullarbor for the second straight year, and third time in four years, as confident as they’ve ever been of being able to hoist the Goodall Cup for the first time.

The Thunder hit the business end of the season in imposing form, having lost just one of their past eight games, Sunday’s dead rubber against Melbourne Ice, and alternate captain Andrew Cox has only one thing on his mind.

“That (winning the cup) is the only thing I’m thinking about at the moment and through this week,” Cox said. “. It’s definitely something you think about all the time is wanting to win that cup, it’s why we play. It’s the ultimate of sporting moments for hockey in Australia so it’s what we want to do.”

The Thunder have given themselves the best chance possible for a tilt at the Cup, finishing second for the first time to ensure a match-up against defending champions the Newcastle North Stars, who Cox says will be difficult to crack.

“It’ll be another tight contest I’m sure,” Cox said. “Any team can win these games, you just have to put your best foot forward and leave everything out on the ice.”

Cox also said the game would be a battle of the goaltenders, with Thomas Heemskerk and Newcastle netminder Dayne Davis being two of the best in the league.

“A guy like that (Heemskerk) can sometimes give you too much confidence; you can sometimes expect him to save everything because he’s really that good,” Cox said. “We have to try and help him out as much as we can and make his life as easy as possible, and try to put goals in at the other end as well.”

“We also have to make sure we’re really hard on (Davis), a lot of shots, rebounds, crash the net, and make sure life is difficult for him and their defencemen.”

Cox said the team has been boosted significantly by the return of captain Sam Wilson in the last eight games, with the team posting an 11-3 win-loss record with Wilson in the line-up.

“He’s our backbone, the captain and our leader, he brings a presence to the dressing room,” Cox said. “It doesn’t matter if he plays five minutes or 50, he’s one of the guys that brings a lot to the team, so it’s awesome to have him back.”

Cox said there was just one more item of business to take care of.

“We’re going over to Melbourne to win.”

“We go in with confidence, everyone is thrilled to be there and we’re looking for a positive result. If we don’t win we’ll be extremely disappointed.”

The Thunder take on the Newcastle North Stars in the second semi-final on Saturday, August 27 at 4pm AWST. Broadcast details are yet to be confirmed, but keep an eye at perththunder.com.au as details come to hand.