It's a de facto Badger Conference championship game, taking place on the sport's biggest stage in high school in Wisconsin.
Playing for the third time this year, the Metro Lynx and Rock County Fury are very familiar with one another heading into the WIAA State Semifinal on Thursday afternoon at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center.
The Lynx won the first meeting 4-3, but the Fury were able to exact revenge in the second meeting, a 3-2 overtime decision that helped the Fury towards winning the conference in 2019-2020.
Lynx Coach Mike McKersie told 1070 The Game that it's not just the Fury that the Lynx have some recent history with; The Lynx have faced all three of the other teams at state (including Fox Cities and Hudson). McKersie believes the tough conference schedule (facing Rock County twice as well as the Cap City Cougars three times, including in Saturday's sectional final), as well as a rigorous non-conference schedule, have prepared the team well for its first trip to state.
Fury Coach Luke Steurer echoes the sentiment that the tough conference schedule was helpful, especially during the Fury's recent run, in which they've faced top programs like the Cougars, Lynx, ECA Stars, and others as well as University School and Fond du Lac in the playoffs.
You can hear from both head coaches below.
Face-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon in Madison.