A year ago, Matt McCarty’s Winters Blizzards experienced one of the Big Country’s biggest in-season turnarounds. The mission now is to build on that.

Starting the 2017 campaign 1-4 following consecutive 2-8 seasons, the Blizzards rattled off four wins in their final five regular season games to earn their first playoff berth since 2014. And McCarty feels the strides made during that run — and the added confidence that resulted — has the Blizzards well positioned for bigger things in 2018.