NEW ULM — The message is pretty simple for the New Ulm Steel hockey team.

Win your last four games of the regular season and you are the West Division champions of the NA3HL and the No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

The Steel, who are tied for first with Granite City with 60 points, have three road contests before a home game on the last day of the regular season that could determine the champion and the top seed in the West Division playoffs.

New Ulm (27-10-4) plays at Wausau (9-31) this Friday and Saturday. Next week, the Steel play at Breezy Point (15-27) on Friday before hosting Central Division champion North Iowa (35-4) next Saturday at the New Ulm Civic Center. That game will be played on the regulation sheet of ice.

“If we win our four games and Granite City wins their final three games, we win the division,” Steel coach Andrew Kolb said. “We have eight possible points and they have six possible points. So we have to take care of business with Wausau and Breezy. Those games are not going to be easy. Any time you play on the road it is difficult — we need all of the points.”

If the Steel lose one of their games and Granite City wins its final three games, the Lumberjacks would claim the West Division crown because they would have more regular season wins.

“Three of those games are on the road. We have to take care of business. We play at Wausau this weekend and we have never been there,” Kolb said. “We played them earlier in the season at home [with the Steel winning both games]. And they are battling for the last playoff spot in their division so they have something to play for like we do. And Breezy would love to beat us.”

KOLB, STEEL AT TOP PROSPECTS: Kolb, who returned early Thursday morning from the Top Prospects Hockey Tournament in Plymouth, Michigan with Steel players Ryan Kenny, Alex Nagel, Ryan Smith and Stephen Mordini, said that the tournament went well as the players got some big exposure to college coaches and scouts.

“It was also a good opportunity for any coach to meet new people and network a little bit,” Kolb said. “As a first-year head coach I am new to this. We talked to scouts and colleges. It was nice to meet new people in hockey.”