Coach Kevin Noble hopes the Newcastle Northstars can reap the benefits of a trip to Melbourne for a "tough" double-header, which comes a month out from the Australia Ice Hockey League play-offs in the same city.
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With just five games left to play in the regular reason, the Northstars take on both Melbourne sides in the Victorian capital this weekend.
They meet Melbourne Mustangs at 5pm on Saturday before backing up to take on confirmed finals contender Melbourne Ice at 2pm on Sunday.
Noble expects the fixtures at O'Brien Icehouse to be a significant test, but felt it would be an acclimatising trip to the rink that will host the play-offs on August 23-25.
"It's a good time for a road trip right before we have to get back down there in five weeks," Noble said.
"We're fortunate to go down there, get a little taste of it and get guys, in the last five games, feeling a play-off vibe. Hopefully we can carry that down the stretch."
The Northstars remain top of their Rurak conference despite mixed results in recent weeks, including back-to-back penalty shootout losses. They've won 12 of 25 games this season and are certain to feature in the post-season.
The Ice, also already finals bounds, are second in the other Hellyer conference after 18 wins from 24 games. The Mustangs are fourth in that same conference after 11 wins from 24 games. The top-three teams in each conference make the play-offs.
"They're in must-win territory on every game and have to have a lot of help from the team ahead of them," Noble said of the Mustangs. "They're a good side, and no matter where they're at, it's going to be a tough game.
"At this time of the year, it doesn't really matter who you play ... every team needs the points that badly, so every game is really [like] a play-off game.
"We have our work cut out for us this weekend."
Noble added: "We need to finds some points in every game in some shape or form in order to control our own destiny in terms of where we finish."
