29 November 2025

Here we go, Thunder! Here we go!

One last time before the year fades away in a rush of Christmas parties, shopping we can’t afford and work tasks charging at us in waves — all suddenly too urgent to wait until next year.

What better way to chase off the tension headache constantly hammering away in my head and the stress over visas and error-prone travel plans than to stand in the frosty air of the ice arena, banging the glass one last time for Perth Thunder?

Saturday, 29 November 2025, two teams consisting of a mixture of current and alumni Perth Thunder members faced off against each other, and we, the supporters, loved every confusing second of it!

Goalies:- Dillon Dewar, Levon Wilson.

Thunder Blue:- Tyler Colev, Andrew Cox, Rick Del Basso, Sean Hamilton, Josh Healey, Jordy Kyros, Riley Langille, Lyndon Lodge, Jake Ruck, Pat Sucher, Kieren Webster, Brad Young.

Thunder White:- Sam Bavin, Ben Breault, Finlay Gordon, Paul Graham, Richie Lamb, Max Lyashenko, Brayden Maybee, Jaymee McDonald, Anthony Nottle, Al Punler, Drew Robson, Ville Tenosalmi, Jamie Woodman.

Like most supporters, I wore my game jersey — my red David Kudla 8 — for the first time, in solidarity with the guys on the ice. David wasn’t playing, but Tyler Colev did his blue jersey proud. Many of our beloved players couldn’t make it, yet their jerseys were everywhere, on and off the ice, bringing them along in spirit.

We had Perth Thunder, the Alumni Production, starring – for Thunder Blue – Kieren Webster as Yannic Lodge, Rick Del Basso as Kieren Webster, Sean Hamilton as Skyler Luo, Tyler Colev as David Kudla, Josh Healey as Yu Hikosaka and Pat Sucher as Al Punler, and on Thunder White, Al Punler as… himself…

Yup! It was as confusing as it sounds!

I wasn’t able to identify everybody. Please let me know if I made any mistakes. In the sea of fast action, helmets and Thunder camouflage, I seldom knew who exactly I was cheering for at any given moment, but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm.

Don’t even get me started on the fun we had when they decided to swap goalies in the second period, but didn’t swap their jerseys! The mental gymnastics we had to perform at high speed to remind ourselves that the guys were not scoring own-goals!

The Officials, having a meeting to figure out who is who and on whose side…

Still, the skills were, as always, breathtaking, and the action exciting.

We had a blast!

Gathered together at the Perth Ice Arena, we were a warm community with one common goal: to celebrate the Thunder that is, the Thunder that was and the Thunder that is yet to come. We have incredible rookies — a reminder that the future of the team we love is in good hands. It was encouraging to see them hold their own among the seasoned players.

A great benefit of an all-Thunder game is that there’s no need to pick a side! It’s not possible anyway! Each goal sparked a mixture of joy and regret in my divided heart, while Thunder played against Thunder… and Thunder won!

Watching the fierce battles for the puck raging on the other side of the glass up close like that, I realised that if it were an actual season game, and our guys were playing real enemies, I would’ve been terrified.

Whenever I saw a favourite player surrounded by his opposition, I had to remind myself to breathe, that this was a friendly game, and he was probably going to survive. The friendly alumni game was 100 times more chilled than the games played during the battle for the Goodall Cup.

It contained loads of (aggressive, slightly violent) cuddling, after all…

I’m not sure I will survive watching season games rink-side, when the opponents aren’t coming in peace, and the noises from the ice aren’t laughter and friendly chirps.

Thankfully, I still have a few Summer League games to toughen me up before Perth Thunder face their true rivals again. I’ll be braver by then… maybe. I might bring bubble wrap and try to turn our guys into protected burritos, though… and get sent to the penalty box for interference.

It’s no secret that I am a terrible video cameraman.

I have an astonishing gift for capturing everything except the action while I stand there slack-jawed or gushing loudly about the wonderful things happening just out of frame. But somehow, I managed to point my phone camera in the right direction a few times and captured some cool moments when they happened close enough to be in focus.

Since many supporters couldn’t make it to the game, I strung these miraculous exceptions in my videography career together so that they can at least get a taste of the fun.

Among flashes of beautiful skating and heart-racing action, I also managed to capture Captain Thunder (Jamie Woodman) doing pirouettes and thunder balls, Finlay Gordon performing sneaky magic, Ville Tenosalmi scoring a stick-breaking goal, and Jordy Kyros being Jordy Kyros… which was not a given in this game.

The two teams took turns taking the lead until Thunder Blue scored the winning goal during overtime, bringing the final score to 7-6. Congratulations!

Thank you, Perth Thunder, for taking the time during the busiest part of the year to make your supporters’ hearts swell with pride and beat happily one last time.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

See you on the ice in 2026!

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A special thank you to Aidan Pasznicki (Breakaway Media on Facebook, Official Site: Breakaway Media) and Ashley Hayes (Ashley Hayes Photography) for kindly allowing me to use your wonderful photographs.

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Would you like to share your story, thoughts or feelings? DM me on Facebook or send me an email at: theavdhoogt@gmail.com.

Thank you for banging the glass with me! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.