DENVER -- The UND men's hockey team found out Sunday morning that it would, indeed, be able to charter home despite wintry conditions in Grand Forks.
That wasn't the best news of the morning, though.
When the Sioux woke up, they found out that they had clinched home ice for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association-best 10th year in a row.
After Saturday night's 5-3 loss to the University of Denver, UND went back to the hotel believing that it needed one point during this weekend's series against Minnesota State-Mankato to lock up home ice, since the Sioux were only three points ahead of seventh-place Michigan Tech.
But because Tech plays Colorado College, which is tied for fifth, there is no way both teams can catch UND and send the Sioux down to seventh. The lowest UND can finish is sixth.
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UND enters the final week of the regular season with the ability to finish as high as third.
The first round of the league playoffs, a best-of-three series, will be March 9-11. UND's most likely opponents are either Wisconsin or Bemidji State.
The Sioux have hosted a first-round series for every year since 2002, winning all nine of those series to advance to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center. That's also a league-best run.
This season's road to home ice has been a winding one.
At Thanksgiving, the Sioux sat in 11th place out of 12 teams with a 2-6 mark in league play. But they went 12-5-1 down the stretch, starting with a critical home sweep of Colorado College.
UND has slowly climbed the standings and can clinch a fourth-place finish with a split against the 12-20-2 Mavericks. The Sioux also will have their sights set on the national picture, where they sit at No. 14 in the Pairwise Rankings -- on the bubble of making the NCAA tournament.
"Everything is in our hands," UND coach Dave Hakstol said Saturday night. "It's not easy. Look around our league. Everyone is splitting points. We gained some points on the teams closest to us."
And those two points in Magness Arena were enough to ensure they will be at home for the next two weekends.
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Reach Schlossman at (701) 780-1129; (800) 477-6572, ext. 129; or send e-mail to bschlossman@gfherald.com .
