GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Even though the first-place UND Fighting Hawks have the inside track to another Penrose Cup banner as the regular-season champs of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with four games to go, I choose not to look ahead.

There's an outside chance UND could win the Penrose this weekend, pending results at the Ralph against Western Michigan and the series in St. Cloud between the second-place Huskies and preseason favorite Denver, but I won't go there in my thinking.

With more than a half a century of reporting on my resume with college hockey, a sport I once played in college and have been passionate about most of my life, I find it is best for me to break it all down into smaller segments. To try to figure out results of games before they are played can be a foolish endeavor, I have learned in my life.

So beginning tonight at the best rink in the world at The Ralph, surrounded by the best college hockey fans in the world, I'll sit back and watch and see if the best team in the NCHC through through 22 of the 26-game schedule can finish this remarkable season off in style.

And as I have written in the past, I find the best way for me to enjoy it all is one shift at a time on the ice below me, one play at a time, one period at a time, one game at  a time. To speculate how this weekend will turn out and what UND would need to do at Omaha next weekend to win another title is pure speculation and a waste of time. 

Breaking the game down into tiny segments of play allows me to focus on the task at hand, something the players strive to do, rather than ponder the "what-ifs'' of what happens if UND wins or loses this game and how St. Cloud State fares against the DU Pioneers.

I do know the anticipation will grow with the end in sight, and it will be palpable among all of us, players and coaches included. While it certainly adds tension and suspense, it is a far better feeling than those players and fans involved with teams long ago out of any race for honors.

It  will be interesting to me to see if the injured Hunter Johannes can return to action this weekend, and if so, how productive can he be? He adds a strong scoring touch to the lineup along with his size and strength, so a healthy Hunter would be a big plus to this outstanding Fighting Hawks team.

Johannes ranks sixth on the team in goals scored with 9, despite missing nine games with his injury. He also leads the team with two shorthanded goals and also has a power-play goal, so his effectiveness can be measured in many key ways. His return to health and the lineup would be a great addition to this team as the stretch run of the season is at hand.

And for any fans with a finger on the panic button after UND was swept by Colorado College two weeks ago, rest assured this team is fine now, and will be just fine pressing forward. This is a team with great talent, four-line depth of top players in varying roles on the forward line combinations, and outstanding coaching. The rebuilt defense and goaltending have proved to be solid and this team has come together as one as very few saw coming.

So now we're down to four games to go in the NCHC race, then league playoffs, then NCAA Regionals, all that to be determined in short order in the next few weeks.

It's a great time of the season to be a hockey fan, if you're team is a contender, vying for the highest of honors. Once again, for fans of the Fighting Hawks, and certainly the players, this is the time of the year we dream about as fans, and players fight for as teams.

Other than watching all this unfold this weekend, and in coming weekends, I have absolutely no control over what happens on the ice. All I can control is my view of the game, my focus on each play, each shift, etc., so that's what I will do.

I can't wait.

As the fantastic "Zamboni'' song lyrics say, "the best you can name, is the good old hockey game.''

Virg Foss is in his 54th season of writing about UND hockey. He was the beat writer for UND hockey for 35 years prior to his retirement in 2005. He is currently in his 19th season of writing about Fighting Hawks' hockey for UND athletic communications.