The four teams contesting the sudden death Australian Ice Hockey League finals series in Melbourne this weekend are understandably confident that they will take out the title. Each has beaten the other throughout the season and each has a credible contender's story.
Saturday's semi-finals pit the Melbourne Mustangs against the defending champions the Sydney Ice Dogs, then Melbourne Ice clash with Canberra Brave, with the two winners to play off for the Goodall Cup on Sunday.
The Dogs withstood early season coaching and administrative upheaval and a 1-5 opening, and have won three games in a row, comprising a thrilling home ice win over the Mustangs and a cut-throat road double over a desperate Perth Thunder.
CBR Brave have munched every challenge thrown at it in its inaugural season, and in four visits to the finals venue, Melbourne's Icehouse, have lost only once in regulation time.
Melbourne Ice has blended emerging and established talent into a unit which led the league until the final round.
And the Melbourne Mustangs were deserved minor premiers, after improving steeply and consistently over the past two seasons.
The finals at the league's 'MCG', the world-class Icehouse in Melbourne's Docklands, ought to be the best-attended and most passionately supported in the 14-year history of the growing league.
Ice Dogs coach Andrew Petrie says the Ice Dogs will put their heart and soul into their semi-final and take it from there. "We're planning as though we're going to be there," he says of Sunday's decider.
He possesses immense respect for his semi-final opponent, however, saying that he thought the final game of the year between the Mustangs and Dogs in Liverpool, Sydney was as good a contest as he had seen all year.
"Their structure and adherence to systems is far and away better than any other team," Petrie said.
He is maintaining the same routines which have served his team all year, trying to keep the weekend "as normal as possible".
Finals newcomers CBR Brave are taking a different approach. After a season in which mishaps with two bus trips and an airline flight postponed or cancelled games, two of which impacted Brave, they are taking no chances and coming to Melbourne Friday morning.
Captain Mark Rummukainen described their semi-final as the "biggest game of the season, the biggest game of our careers.
"This is not going to happen every year... we're excited by the opportunity."
Canberra will fear nothing in a season in which it cheated death, forging a new club after being disbanded six weeks before the season's start.
That new club goes into uncharted territory undaunted; the Dogs possess confidence as reigning champions; Ice have unsurpassed finals experience and have regained their mojo after a disjointed 2013; the maturing Mustangs, about to play their first final, have been shocking the naysayers all season.
After a season in which results were utterly unpredictable, the only certainty is that Australian hockey fans expect a thrilling finale.
Australian Ice Hockey league finals series, Docklands Icehouse
Saturday 30 August
12.30-2pm: Skate with the Stars (NHL signee Nathan Walker in attendance)
3pm: First semi-final: Melbourne Mustangs (1) v Sydney Ice Dogs (4)
6.30pm: Second semi-final: Melbourne Ice (2) v Canberra Brave (3)
8.30pm: AIHL Awards night, Groovetrain restaurant, Docklands
Sunday 31 August
3pm: Final winner of semi-final 1 v winner semi-final 2
5.30-8pm: Icehouse: After-party
Standing room tickets remain available.
