Canterbury is quite a physical team much more so then Stampede as you said Argyle is the exception and plays an awesome physical game.  I think that the fact that when Thunder played Stampede they were able to have a solid forcheck which made the Stampede cough the puck up quite a few times shows a little of the problems Stampede might have.  Canterbury has the top forward lines in the league.  If a Thunders forcheck can put that much pressure on Stampede and keep them in their zone then I think a solid Canterbury forecheck could potentially do more damage.  In any case we’ll just have to see what the outcome of the games are.
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Hmmmmm,  Interesting comments.  When I say interesting I mean where do you come up with this stuff!  I am first and foremost a thunder fan but behind them I like to see our southern cousins the stampede do well and as we have had a what you could say disapointing season I am very happy for them, to see they are goin well.  Ok now defense 101, Im picking you are a player as you have made some pretty big calls, so I guess you are talking from experience.  I think the Stampede are more than able to handle the physical nature of any team.  They have a number of ice blacks and experienced players who I’m sure have played alot more physical teams from oversea’s.  So I’m picking the contact isn’t gonna be an issue.  Then you go on about our forecheck troubling the stampede defense.  Hmmm. They may have coughed the puck up but 10 – 0 and 11- 0.  Hardly a defense worry.  What next.  Canterbury has the top forward lines in the country. Where do you find that stat.  THE BEST FORWARDS.  I must be looking in the wrong places.  Canterbury has played the Admirals and us.  Hardly testing.  They might have scored alot of points but it is impossible to say they are better than the other lines in the competition.   Maybe you are right but,  Ill make my decision after this weekend when the red devils finally have some pressure with the swarm hitting there town

Canterbury has the top forward lines in the country. Where do you find that stat.
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I’d concur, from what I’ve seen over the past two seasons, Canterbury has the best forward line. Paris Heyd left Dunedin a few years ago an reasonably good junior and is one of the better forwards in the competition now. Someone’s been doing good things with him up there. Chris Eaden certainly looks like the leading forward in the competition. He’s a player with international prospects, which you couldn’t say about many NZ ice hockey players. They play together regularly and do so very well. They’ll cause problems for every team in the competition. Their other top line is pretty good too.

Last two seasons Canterbury have had the top three forwards in terms of point scoring both years in the end of year stats. This year they currently have the top two. While they’ve played a couple of the easier teams, they’ve played less games than anyone.

Canterbury is quite a physical team much more so then Stampede as you said Argyle is the exception and plays an awesome physical game.  I think that the fact that when Thunder played Stampede they were able to have a solid forcheck which made the Stampede cough the puck up quite a few times shows a little of the problems Stampede might have.  Canterbury has the top forward lines in the league.  If a Thunders forcheck can put that much pressure on Stampede and keep them in their zone then I think a solid Canterbury forecheck could potentially do more damage.  In any case we’ll just have to see what the outcome of the games are.
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Haha well for those mashing on my statement thats cool.  I didn’t say Stampede couldn’t handle the physicality of Canterbury once as you can see above.  I merely said that Canterbury is more physical.  Any team that is more physical usually has an advantage.  As Vpatrol pointed out by a solid forecheck I didn’t say that capitalized as we could all see with the score.  Stampede beat us 10-0 and 11-0 showing they are a far better team then Thunder was.  The fact of the matter is though that Stampede beat us 11-0 and 10-0 not 11-0 and 15-2.  Canterbury beat us worse and beat us worse in the second game when Thunder were actually playing better.  As for the top lines in the league that is comparable to Stampede and Canterbury playing the same opponents.  They have scored more goals against the Admirals and Thunder then Stampede have.  Now with this comments I’m not trashing or knocking the Stampedes ability at all they are a wicked team and “among” the top in the league.  What I am saying is my opinion is that based on what we have seen so far from the two teams performances is that Canterbury is looking a little stronger and that I think they will come out on top.  I personally would like to see Stampede come out on top but as far as I can tell Canterbury is the better team.  Now trashing on the Thunder for how they are playing isn’t going to prove any points either so just focus on the games this weekend and see what happens.  I for one am making an opinion now and we’ll see if I am right when the weekend is over.

I should also mention that Janos didn’t play in either of those away game due to work committments.  Swarm get to see him though as will the Stampede! 
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hmmm wonder what it will be like having an extra player come onto the team changing up lines and and dynamics will be interesting having to pander to a player only playing at home.