No teams light up the scoreboards in arenas across the Southern Professional Hockey League more than Mississippi and Fayette-ville.

They're No. 1-2 in the league in scoring with 114 and 105 goals. Fayetteville's Rob Sich and Chris Leveille are 1-2 in individual scoring, while the Surge has five players in the next seven slots.

And even though the teams are 3-3 head-to-head, the FireAntz believe they know the key to derailing the Surge in 7:35 games tonight and Saturday at the Crown Coliseum. Mississippi enters tonight's game at 15-9-7 (37 points) while the Antz are 16-11-0 (32 points).

The primary goal, they say, is to avoid letting Mississippi have power-play chances. In the plus/minus category, where points are awarded for even-strength and shorthanded scores, the Surge are minus 66 against Fayetteville.

"The key is going to be a little bit of discipline," FireAntz forward Emery Olauson said.

"The fact that we're almost plus-70 against them tells you all of their goals are coming on the power play. That's a combination of their power play being that good and us not getting the puck out of the zone on the penalty kill when we have a chance. Leaving (Matt) Zultek open in the slot can't happen if we're going to shut them down."

The Surge is No. 1 in the league on the power play, scoring on nearly 1 in 4 chances. Zultek has scored 44 points, leaving him one behind Leveille and two behind Sich in the battle for the league lead. Michael Richard has notched 41 points, and former Fayetteville player Tim Velemirovich has 35.

If the Antz are going to take penalties, the goal is to make sure that a Surge player joins them in the penalty box. That's very likely in light of what happened in Biloxi on Dec. 11-12, the last time the teams faced each other.

Sich lit Mississippi up for a hat trick on the first night and then took a pounding the next as the Surge claimed the rematch 3-2.

Video of one incident from that game shows Sich down on the ice while being punched repeatedly by Mississippi's Steve Weidlich. By night's end, three Surge players - Weidlich, Ryan Bartle and Chris Greene - had received game misconduct penalties, as had the FireAntz's Sean Cryer and Murray Free.

Though it was a month ago, that series is still fresh in the minds of the FireAntz's players and coach.

"They took a little bit of liberties on Sichy," Olauson said, "so obviously there are some scores to be settled."

It was that kind of game that prompted Antz coach Tommy Stewart to trade for Louisiana defenseman Dan McNeill, a 6-foot-3, 225-pounder who's more than willing to mix it up.

"If our team is strong enough to keep it 5-on-5, it should be no problem to beat those guys," said McNeill, who made his Antz debut last weekend against Huntsville. "We've got to be smart. We have to beat these guys. They're in second place, five points ahead of them.

"But we can let them know right away that if it's going to get ugly, we're going to be the uglier team."