If you build it, they will come. If you build it bigger, more people will come.

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That’s the message UND hockey fans are trying to get across in a Change.org petition to change the venue of the 2018 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game that will pit the Fighting Hawks against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in Las Vegas.

The petition, launched Friday, is directed at the UND Athletics Department in an attempt to move the game from the 7,500-seat Orleans Arena to the new 17,500-seat T-Mobile Arena that opened in April in Las Vegas.

The T-Mobile Arena does not have an event scheduled Oct. 27, 2018, according to its website.

The game that day between the former WCHA rivals sold out in a matter of minutes.

The petition was started by Andrew Simonson, who is a UND student, according to his Facebook page.

“The game should be moved to a bigger venue in the area to accommodate the mass amount of people who would like to see this marquee matchup,” he wrote on the petition.

Simonson, a UND senior, told the Herald he was online right at 2 p.m. Feb. 10, when tickets went on sale, but by the time he clicked the “Buy” button, all of the tickets were gone. He said he doesn’t know any students who got a ticket.

By about 3 p.m. Friday, he had a petition up.

“It kind of started out of frustration,” he said. “I understand they probably can’t change it contractually.”

Simonson said the petition is more about making a point to the university: If these games are marketed as opportunities for students, alumni and other fans to take trips to see UND play in destination cities, they should hold it in a venue that can hold a lot of fans.

Most of the tickets for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game were snapped up during pre-sales for UND Champions Club members.

The demand was high, especially after the highly successful game in New York City's Madison Square Garden in December against Boston College. Simonson said he went to that game.

UND drew an estimated 8,000 fans to Madison Square Garden. The Fighting Hawks beat Boston College 4-3.

The Vegas game has been in the works for a couple of years - since Dave Hakstol was the head coach - and officially was announced in a press conference in July.

Officials decided to play the game at Orleans Arena to ensure a profit - T-Mobile would have charged significantly more in rent - and to make sure interest in these showcase games continued to build.

When Simonson posted the petition, he wasn’t expecting much. But by Saturday, more than 100 people had signed it, many expressing the same frustration.

As of late Monday afternoon, more than 500 people had signed the e-petition, many writing they were not able to get tickets to the game.

Now that the petition has picked up steam, Simonson said he will try to submit it to the Athletics Department.

Change.org has a wide range of petitions, typically on serious issues. North Dakota has ties to some of the most signed petitions the site ever has had, including three separate petitions to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline that all have more than 553,000 signatures.

Herald reporter Brad Elliott Schlossman contributed to this article.

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