The second half of the season is nearly upon us and for the Albert Lea boys’ hockey team that means the league games count now.

The Big Nine changed its points system this season.

Now, the second meeting between two teams counts toward the conference standings. The Tigers (8-2) have won two out of their first three Big Nine matchups. Albert Lea meets Mankato East and John Marshall just once and still faces Mayo and Owatonna twice.

The non-conference schedule remains tough for the Tigers. Albert Lea still has four non-conference games following Tuesday’s game with Northfield. The Tigers face two Iron Range Conference opponents this weekend in Hibbing and Virginia-Mt. Iron-Buhl. Hibbing is 6-3-1 on the season and Virginia-Mt. Iron-Buhl is 9-4. The Tigers still face New Prague on Jan. 31 in New Prague and Red Wing on Jan. 17 in Albert Lea.

Red Wing is 5-5 with its losses coming against Rochester Lourdes, No. 3 in Class A, Totino-Grace, No. 10 in Class A, Mahtomedi, No. 7 in Class A, and Holy Angels, No. 10 in Class 2A.

New Prague is 8-3 and the Trojans three losses have come against Duluth Denfeld, Hermantown, No. 4 in Class A and Little Falls. New Prague knocked off Rochester Lourdes early in the season.

The next five games for Albert Lea are Hibbing, Virginia-Mt. Iron-Buhl, Mankato West, Mayo and Red Wing — certainly no easy task.

While the non-conference games won’t bear any effect for the conference title, the games come during a stretch that could have a larger effect. The stretch isn’t necessarily make-or-break, but getting on the wrong end of a couple of games could seep into other games. It is a very easily a character test for this year’s team.

There were a lot of questions raised when the Tigers lost to Winona 6-4 back on Dec. 18, but they responded quickly with an 11-1 win over Austin and a 2-1 showing at the Kiwanis/Wells Fargo Hockey Festival in Rochester.

The one loss Albert Lea suffered at the festival was a 5-0 loss to Lourdes and the Eagles dominated much of play, outshooting the Tigers 38-12 and took advantage of six Albert Lea penalties with two power play goals.

The next five games will give the Tigers a chance to show how they stack up this season and if they get rolling could start to turn some heads. The first line is good for Albert Lea this season and the question continues to be the depth.

Jordan Prescher-Smerud (nine goals, nine assists), Tyler Prihoda (eight goals, eight assists), and Grant Stadheim (six goals, nine assists) make up 47 percent of the team’s scoring as the first line. The second line has produced, but the Tigers will need that second line to emerge as a bigger threat as the season goes on.

The Big Nine could likely come down to which team has the most depth and few teams are deep this season. Mayo (8-4) was considered a top contender for the conference title this season, but have been inconsistent this season. The Spartans have a talented top line but little depth.

Albert Lea plays nine of its final 15 games come at City Arena.