While playoff hockey features a whole different vibe, this year’s postseason promises to have a very familiar feel for the Aberdeen Wings.

Like last season, the local squad will once again face the Bismarck Bobcats, who once again own home-ice advantage for the best-of-5 series which starts Friday.

Wings coach Scott Langer said his players are ready to go following the regular season.

“I think the group is really excited. Junior hockey is such a long season that the build up to the playoffs, guys are ready to just get after it,” Langer said. “The game becomes so tight. No matter who you’re playing in the playoffs the games are so tight. Guys are playing so hard on both sides, so any little mistakes can cost you a hockey game. It comes down to just inches.”

While Aberdeen won the season series and owns five straight wins over the Bobcats, Langer said he doesn’t bring up the regular season much.

“Every one of those games we played them, they were tightly contested games both ways, whether it was goaltending, special teams, all that stuff,” Langer said. “They were really good hockey games. We were just fortunate enough to come out on the good side of it.”

Aberdeen won 37 games this season, and Langer pointed out that in each of the other divisions of the North American Hockey League that total would have ensured home ice for the first round of the playoffs.

“We had our chances to win the division in my mind. We gave away some games that we really should have won, but we’re in a good spot,” Langer said. “We got better each time we didn’t win, went back to work and became a better hockey team, so hopefully we’re playing our best hockey come Friday.”

Langer said postseason hockey games are often determined by a couple of key elements.

“You got to have the goaltending. You’ve got to be well structured, defensively,” Langer said. “You can’t give up a lot and being disciplined, and that’s not just staying out of the penalty box. Discipline is when you have that puck on your stick in a big-time situation it’s got to go in.”

Of course, a little puck luck never hurts, either.

“You got be in the right place at the right time. You’ve got to bear down,” Langer said. “Teams move on because players are disciplined and figure out a way to get it done. The teams that don’t, they’re done.”

Last year, Aberdeen stole home-ice advantage by winning the first two games at Bismarck. However, the Bobcats returned the favor at the Odde Ice Center, and then won game five and the series back in Bismarck on an ending where the Wings thought they had scored, but the goal was not allowed.

“You’ve got to look to your group of guys, your veterans. We have a lot of guys who were in that five-game series last year, that was kind of a heartbreaker in game five,” Langer said. “Those guys need to lead the way and understand we don’t want to feel the same way when we left Bismarck.”

Langer said that the Wings need to remember that series and how it eventually ended and use that experience for this series.

“For me, if you didn’t learn something from that then it was a waste of a time. It was a bad exercise,” he said. “You have to take something from that when you come back to the team the next year. It’s a terrible feeling and especially how it ended.”

Langer definitely recalls how that series shook out a year ago.

“We were in that series the whole series. It was a great series. Should we have taken one at home? Absolutely. Bismarck played a better game in our building. Then we went and played that game in game five and it was up and down and back and forth,” Langer said. “If they can’t remember what that felt like and to allow our other players that haven’t been a part of a playoff series know what it takes and how it feels, then that was just a complete waste of time.”

Langer pointed out that the Bobcats will show up with plenty of emotion in the series, especially after winning the Robertson Cup a year ago.

“Bismarck’s the reigning champion. They’re going to a have chip on their shoulder that that’s their cup and they’re going to have to take it from us,” Langer said. “That’s going to be confidence for them.”

While the Bobcats are tough at home, the Wings have played well on the road this season.

Langer said the location of the games isn’t as important as how his team plays.

“I think it’s how you play and how you execute the game plan,” Langer said. “Obviously, Bismarck’s always been good at home. It’s a great environment there. They do a really good job, but we’ve proven that we can win on their ice surface.”

Langer doesn’t mind starting a series on the road, knowing that the series will soon shift to the Odde Ice Center in front of a loyal fan base.

“For me, I probably would rather start on the road, then head back to our building with the ability to play games in front of our fans. We love playing at home as well,” Langer said. “I just think our guys have done a really good job on the road this year and they’re focused. For us, we’re just going to embrace it. It doesn’t matter. We know that either way you’ve got to win three games to move on.”