NEW ULM — The first-place New Ulm Steel (20-8 in the West Division of the NA3HL) return to the New Ulm Civic Center ice for two home games Friday and Saturday against Wausau (Wisconsin) Riverwolves, who are 6-22 and are in fourth place in the Central Division.

Both games are at 7:10 p.m.

“They are new to this league,” Steel coach Andrew Kolb said. “They took over from Chicago last year and they are rebuilding. They have six wins, and I know some of the players on their team. They have a goalie in Henry Baribeau (5-14; 5.11 goals-against average) who is good — he had over 50 saves in a game against North Iowa in a 3-1 loss. They will compete.”

Duncan Woodall, who was in the front office with the Steel last year, and his wife Terri, are the new owners Wausau.

This is a series where the Steel are hoping to get 4 points over the weekend. “Every point and every game matters,” Kolb said. “Alexandria and Granite City played last night and and they have games Friday and Saturday.”

Kolb feels that there is not a chance of a letdown in these two home games. “But that is up to us as coaches to get them ready and prepared. It is a good chance to win two games at home.”

WIEBEN IN CONCUSSION PROTOCOL: New Ulm Steel forward Nick Wieben is going through tests for a concussion after being injured in the last minute of the Steel’s home game last Saturday against Alexandria.

He was hurt when he was hit from behind by the Blizzard’s Ryan Worley and sent head first into the boards. Wieben had to be helped from the ice by teammates. Worley was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind.

“He still has concussion-type symptoms,” said Kolb on Wednesday about Wieben. “He may be a week away — I do not know. It depends on how his days are going. He still has a headache as of Wednesday and he was sensitive to light on Monday. He has been talking to our trainers.”

Kolb did say that the film of the hit has been sent into the NA3HL office.

“We want to see what the league thinks of the hit,” Kolb said. “It was late in the game and (Wieben) had his back turned. It was a pretty disgusting hit in our opinion. Wieben was in that three- foot range off of the boards, which is a dangerous area in hockey. Was it intentional? I do not know, but it was scary. The good thing is that it was not his back or his neck. I do not know what the league is going to say about it.”

Kolb said that the NA3HL could suspend Worley for one game or as much as three or they may not suspend him at all.

STEEL TRADE BEILENBERG: The Steel traded back-up goalie Ryan Beilenberg on Monday but Beilenberg decided to decline the trade.

“There were a couple of teams that were interested in him,” Kolb said. “We brought him in and talked to him to see what his thoughts were. He did not report and decided to go home and focus on college. He is a good kid and it was tough. We had four goalies and that was too many.”