Though the Austin Bruins are expecting a dog fight as the team seeks its first Robertson Cup title, the team is glad to be playing at home.

The Bruins will play the Minnesota Wilderness in a best of three series for an NAHL championship in at Riverside Arena this weekend. Game one is 7:05 p.m. Friday, game two is 7:05 p.m. Saturday and game three (if necessary) is 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

With two Minnesota teams playing for a title, Austin head coach Chris Tok expects Riverside Arena to be rocking and said the crowd could surpass what Paint the Rink Pink brings every year.

“At our level, to host this event is very rare and it’s a great opportunity for people in the area to see the best teams in this league going head to head,” Tok said. “It doesn’t get much better than that. I think it’s pretty special for the community. As a coach, it’s very rewarding for all of the hard work we put in to have it here at Riverside Arena.”

The Bruins are very familiar with the Wilderness after the teams met eight times in the regular season. Austin won five of those match ups. The Bruins held a 30-23 goal advantage in the regular season against the Wilderness, but five of those games were decided by one goal.

The Bruins, who are 8-3 in the postseason, won their last four games against the Wilderness down the stretch of the regular season, and Tok said those games give Austin some confidence against a Wilderness team that has won eight straight postseason contests since dropping its first two.

“It gives us confidence that we can beat them,” Tok said. “They beat us a few times as well, and I know they’re not coming in with a lack of confidence. From what we’ve done and what we’ve seen against the Wilderness, there’s no reason why these games shouldn’t be very close and very intense.”

While the Bruins get an offensive edge from about seven different players, who all have between 33 and 61 points in the regular season and playoffs, the Wilderness rely on University of Minnesota commit Darian Ramonko, who has 79 points in the playoffs and regular season, and Bemidji State University commit Aaron Miller, who has 73 points in the playoffs and regular season.

Tok isn’t looking to change any of his line shifts to match up with Ramonko and Miller, and he has faith in his whole lineup to play hard. Tok is hoping that his squad can recover quickly from a competitive series in Texas that ended in an overtime contest.

“I was tired and I didn’t even have to play,” Tok said. “Three games in three nights is not easy, and it was a hot building, so it took a lot out of us.”

The Bruins are loaded with first year players, but the rookies have played in enough big games to know what it takes to win in the playoffs. Now they’ll be looking to get it done on the biggest stage the NAHL has to offer.

Nico Sturm, a forward from Augsburg, Germany, has given the Bruins a boost with 41 points this season after he only played in 21 games from Corpus Christi last season.

Sturm provided the game-winning assist to Alex Pettersson in Austin’s clincher against Lone Star, but he’s not dwelling on that moment. He’s ready to go after an NAHL championship.

“We’re all excited, but not in a way that’s nervous,” Sturm said. “We know what’s coming. We’ve worked so hard to get here and to have the finals in our barn is something special for all of us, especially for the guys who lost last year. You don’t get this chance very often. If you don’t win this, it’s probably going to feel like you’ve been robbed after all of that hard work all year long.”