It has come down to this.

While the NAHL playoffs don’t start for another couple of weeks, the reality is the Aberdeen Wings have been in postseason mode for a while, because they are in a battle for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division standings.

Aberdeen currently has a four-point lead over St. Cloud with four games of the regular season remaining.

“Four games left and every one of them is meaningful,” said Wings coach Scott Langer.

The Norseman have five games remaining and are nipping at the heels of Aberdeen.

“We’re in a situation where we’ve got to find a way to take points each night,” Langer said, “because St. Cloud’s a good team and they’ve been playing very good hockey.”

The Wings have four games remaining, all at home. The local squad hosts Minot this weekend and then Northern Iowa next weekend at the Odde Ice Center. Each contest carries significant weight.

“I think we need to take some points against Minot. Obviously, we play North Iowa as well and we’ve had some really tough games with those guys as well,” Langer said. “We’ve got to worry about Minot this Friday and then take it game by game.”

Aberdeen has had an interesting season filled with plenty of twists and turns, but navigated the obstacle course to be in a position to make the playoffs.

“We’ve gone through so many ups and downs this year, just with our number one goalie getting hurt multiple times, losing players, having to draft a bunch of affiliates. We’ve been through some adversity and our guys have battled through it and I’m really proud of them for it,” Langer said. “Now obviously, we’re much better off with our lineup being somewhat healthy, and I think that’s allowing us to play some pretty good hockey.”

While this weekend is obviously a big two-game homestand, it’s not like the Wings haven’t played crucial games in recent weeks in the battle for playoff positioning.

“We’ve known that we’ve had to take points every weekend, so it’s not going to be any different,” Langer said. “We know that we have to do it again. We’re working this week during practice to be ready to go.”

While the Wings would be forced to play the top-seeded team should they advance to the playoffs, Langer knows that the Central Division features quality teams from top to bottom and anything can happen on any given night.

“When you get in, especially our division, where everybody knows anybody can get beat on any given night, so at this point the focus is getting in,” Langer said, “and if we’re fortunate enough to get in, obviously we’ll give it everything we’ve got to whoever we may play in the first round.”

Langer recalled his first year with the team when the Wings were near the bottom of the standings for the entire year.

“We were able to squeeze in the first round and then ended up going to the Robertson Cup,” Langer said. “Anything’s possible. Right now, we just have to worry about getting in and after that we can start building up on a first-round opponent, but right now we have to have some luck and we have to have some solid play.”

Aberdeen owns the tiebreaker over St. Cloud so the Wings control their own destiny.

The Wings are battle tested and now it’s just a matter of taking care of home ice and rising to the challenge.

“I think right now they’re a confident group that’s playing well, and they’ll be ready to go and up for the task,” Langer said. “Anybody can beat anybody in this division so, we know we’ve got our hands full Friday night. Minot’s done a lot of damage against us this season. They’re going to be a hard opponent, but hopefully we’ve saved our best hockey for the end.”