Despite last Saturday's loss to UW-Stout, the Yellowjackets still got the invite to the NCAA tournament, and still received the number one seed in the West Region.  As a result, they will have one more night on home ice, where they will host the Golden Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus College.  The Gusties advanced to the tournament by way of a 5-2 win over Hamline in the MIAC championship game, gaining a Pool A bid and the MIAC's automatic qualifier.

The two teams met just once this season, that game coming back on January 9 at Lund Arena in St. Peter, Minn.  For the Yellowjackets, it was their first game back from the holiday break, and it was a struggle from start to finish.  They did, however, find a way to win, coming away with a 5-4 overtime win on Chris Wilson's goal with under a minute to go in the extra session.  Wilson's heroics were only made possible when Talon Berlando tied the game up in the closing seconds of regulation.

"There's a saying out there that says good teams find a way to win.  There's another one that says sometimes good teams win games they shouldn't.  That night I think was one of those games for us," said Yellowjacket Head Coach Dan Stauber.  "We were rusty.  We didn't play well from the goaltender on out, but we found a way to get it done."

Rather, one line found a way to get it done.  The line of Wilson, Berlando and Logan Isley accounted for all the scoring in the game - Isley had one goal and Berlando and Wilson had two goals each, picking up a team that looked like they hadn't been on the ice together in a month.

"That line was probably the one exception that night.  They came out and were pretty consistent and played pretty well from start to finish," Stauber said.  "It seems like all year, for the most part, when the team isn't quite on as a whole there is one line in there that we can rely on and that night it was them."

Things are a little different this time around.  That was just a regular season game.  A regular season, non-conference game.  A regular season game in January, when you know you have several weeks of play to settle your post-season fate.  This time, there is no tomorrow.  The winner advances and the loser goes home.

"I hope that we got it out of our system last weekend.  For the first two periods, we weren't sharp.  I hope that beginning this weekend we can come out and play three solid periods; a good 60 minutes," Stauber said.  "When we've done that this season, come out and played our game in all three zones for 60 minutes, we've come out on top.  I hope that last weekend is the last time we'll see this team take a period or two off."

The 'Jackets haven't been in the NCAA tournament in three years, which to the locals seems like an eternity.  That's nothing compared to what they feel in St. Peter, where the Gusties have been on the outside looking in on the NCAA's since 1993.

"We aren't grizzled NCAA veterans like the teams we've had here in the past, but we have a group of seniors who have played in the NCAA's before and that experience counts for something," Stauber said.  "There shouldn't be anything that's a surprise to them at this point.  They've been here.  We need them to take the team on their shoulders and show them the way to win a game in this situation."

They'll have to do it against a team that is playing some of their best hockey of the season.  The Gusties finished second this season in the MIAC, but won three straight to close out the regular season and sweep their way through the MIAC playoffs.  They have a balanced scoring attack, led by a dynamic scorer in David Martinson, who's among the nation's goal leaders with 24.

"They have a good team, no doubt about it.  They have some very skilled forwards and their scoring is really spread out throughout their lineup," Stauber said.  "But that top line with Martinson is the one we need to shut down.  He's the scorer for them and he does it in all situations - power plays, shorties, game-winners, he's their go-to guy."

Below is a closer look at the two teams heading into Saturday's game.

"I really hate to sound cliché, but everything that has happened up to this point really doesn't mean a thing, not for us, not for Gustavus, not for anyone that is still playing," Stauber said.  "It doesn't matter how good our regular season was or how many wins we've got to this point.  It doesn't matter how we got here, right now there are eight teams left and all eight of them are 0-0.  Only one can end up 3-0 and we're going to do everything we can to make sure we are that team."

The first step is Saturday, at home, and there's no place they'd rather be.

"We're a good team on home ice.  Our goal all along was to go the whole year without losing on home ice," Stauber said.  "We came up short on that one last weekend, but we have one more game here and a chance to redeem ourselves for that loss.

"In this situation, in a game this big, I'd much rather be playing it at home than having to travel somewhere.  We're right where we want to be."