Aberdeen has been wild about their Wings since the North American Hockey League franchise landed here in 2010.
Fans are a little dizzy from this season's roller coaster ride, during which the Wings followed a two-month, 18-game losing streak with a stretch of nine wins in its last 13 games. The Wings won three games in a row in three days last weekend.
In control of this mind-bending ride the last few weeks has been coach Travis Winter. Since his arrival in Aberdeen on Jan. 14, things changed for the better according to the chatter one hears from players, organization members and fans.
"As everyone has seen, Coach Winter is an amazing coach," Aberdeen goalie Chad Catt said. "Ever since he got here, we have been doing a ton better. He helped us with our structure, and we needed more of that. And since he gave us that structure, we had the skills to put it all together."
"We have been battling hard in practice and in games and we are just getting it done," added Catt's teammate Jordan Heller.
Catt said personal changes on the ice also have helped the Wings. "We got in a lot of new guys," he said. "They brought with them new energy and positive thinking to the team."
With seven games left in the season, Minot needs either two points from a win, two points from two overtime losses or an Aberdeen loss to secure the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division of the NAHL. So Aberdeen remains in the playoff hunt, but only by a thread.
Still, the Wings are terrorizing opponents.
This past weekend, the Wings outscored their three opponents 12-4. Opponents had chances to score on 17 power plays, but Aberdeen killed 16 of them.
Not only that, but 14 players got in on the Aberdeen scoring, including goalie Zach Nagelvoort, who got an assist on Saturday night against Brookings. Nagelvoort also saved 66 of the 69 shots he faced in two wins. Catt was equally as impressive in saving 33 of 34 shots in his win.
Among the Wings scorers last weekend -- beside the opportunistic Nagelvoort --were Jonathan Grebosky (2 goals, 2 assists), Steven Johnson (1g, 3a), Justin Parizek (1g, 2a), Peter Krieger (3a), and Tanner Holmquist and Tyler Cisar (1g, 1a each). The others with two goals each were Heller and Erik Baskin, Colton Kramer and Kyle Kruenegel with one goal each, and with one assist each: Zach Kraft, Niklas Mayrhauser and Kyle Haak.
The awards have been rolling in for the Wings as well. Nagelvoort topped that list as he was awarded junior hockey and NAHL player of the week awards.
Not only that, but the Wings nearly filled the Odde Ice Center for the two wins that were in Aberdeen. The 1,500-seat Odde drew a combined 2,667 fans.
Winter said he likes speed to be the cornerstone of his teams. He also appreciates the effort of his players.
"Since I have been involved with them, they have been receptive to new ideas, coachable and have worked hard," Winter said last week.
Winter said players who make the leap from high school or midget hockey to junior hockey will be experiencing one of their biggest jumps in levels of their hockey careers.
"It takes time to adjust to junior hockey and they have to learn they have to work hard every day to get better. In practice, they need to compete hard. If they are going to make it, they are forced to bring everything they have got every day.
"We take a day-by-day approach, and we want to get better every day. If we keep that narrow focus, we will just continue to get better and better, and that is what we are after."
The Wings will return to action at 7:15 p.m. Thursday by hosting Coulee Region at the Odde Ice Center.
John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@ aberdeennews.com.
Twitter: @jpapendick