Adam Papin/MDN Minot Minotauros defenseman Colby Woogk moves the puck up ice in a game against the Aberdeen Wings earlier this season. The Minotauros set a new franchise record for points in a season (81) on Friday, March 22, 2024.

The minotaur may not have been a real creature, but there is nothing mythical about the Minot Minotauros this year, as the team has spent much of the season rewriting the franchise’s historical record book.

On Friday, March 22, the Minotauros defeated the Austin Bruins 2-1 to record the team’s 81st point of the season, breaking the previous record of 80 points during the 2016-17 season. The following night, Minot completed the sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Bruins, on a night that saw the Tauros showcase its depth with seven different goal scorers, as the team picked up its eighth consecutive win.

Now Minot returns home to the Maysa Arena this weekend for a series against the St. Cloud Norsemen, who the Tauros are 8-2 against this year. The Tauros are also looking to inch closer to having home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, having already clinched it for the team’s first-round playoff series.

Nonetheless, the focus of the team hasn’t changed.

“We’ve had one main goal all year,” said Tauros head coach Cody Campbell. “Pretty much since the start of training camp, I think it was in everybody’s heads, and it doesn’t get handed out until May 21. That’s the Robertson Cup. We’ve got a long way to go to do that.”

Hockey, more than any other sport, has seen top teams heading into the playoffs be upset in the first round. In the NHL, there is even a name for it: the Presidents’ Trophy Curse, and last year it claimed the Boston Bruins, who posted the best regular season in league history with 65 wins and 135 points before being bounced from the playoffs in the first round by the Florida Panthers. At the top of the sport, only two of the last 20 teams to win the Presidents’ Cup, awarded to the team with the most points in the regular season, have gone on to win the Stanley Cup.

If that isn’t enough of a lesson for the current Minotauors, the team’s own history offers another example. The 2016-17 team that set a franchise record with 80 points and finished first in the Central Division lost three games to one in the division semifinals to the Aberdeen Wings.

“Hockey is a game where anything could happen,” said Minotauros forward Trevor Stachowiak. “I think we’ve used the season, really the whole year, as preparation for the playoffs. That’s what we’re all here for. That’s what every player wants to do is win championships . . . Especially, all the points now for the playoffs matter a whole lot. So it’s somewhat turned into playoff hockey for us already.”

There’s another strategic reason playing on home ice is so important: last change.

Last change is when the home team gets to decide who goes on the ice after seeing who the other team puts its lines on the ice.

“That’s a little thing that the casual fan doesn’t necessarily see or know about,” said Campbell. “But it makes a big difference in just the flow of the game, who you have out against whom and different matchups you want to try to get.”

In many ways, the success of this year’s team has been building for the past three seasons Campbell has been at the helm of the team.

“It’s a constant effort for myself, assistant coach Tyler Ebnor, our assistant general manager Chris Lonke, and director of player personnel Justin Schreiber.” said Campbell. “We work 12 months out of the year to try to build a roster that has high-end talent and also has the depth that is needed to compete and go on a run at the end of the season.”

According to Campbell, the roster has been the product of two and a half years of development, and it’s been exciting to see the staff’s vision come together with this year’s squad.