<![CDATA[It was a character win. There was a lot of questions going into this weekend's series. The University of North Dakota needed two wins to secure home-ice for the first round of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference playoffs. Mission Accomplished!

Next weekend, the Fighting Hawks take on St. Cloud State Huskies in a best of three games. The winner will advance to the Frozen Faceoff. With the win, UND has hosted a first-round playoff series 15 seasons in a row. That's the longest current streak.

According to UND SID Jayson Hajdu, the NCHC Quarterfinals take place March 10, 11 and 12 (Game 3 if necessary). Game times are 7:37 p.m. on Friday and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (all times Central).

For those that are wondering, when can I buy tickets? From the Ralph Engelstad Arena: ticket packages for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference quarterfinal round will go on sale to the public Monday, March 6 at 10 a.m. CST.

Series ticket packages are reserved seating and cost $50 for all three games ($30 youth). Ticket packages can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or in person at the Ralph Engelstad Arena box office. Looking at the ticket prices, that's not all that expensive. I imagine that the NCHC is probably relieved UND is hosting a first round series.

Tucker Poolman gave us a glimpse of the reason he will be playing in the NHL next season. The junior defenseman from East Grand Forks, MN, was a man among boys. Poolman scored two goals and four points and had one of the better nights of his collegiate career.

Finally, sophomore forward Chris Wilkie got the monkey off his back by scoring the game’s first goal. Wilkie broke a 32-game goalless streak. With the goal, Wilkie surpasses last season’s total in points. Wilkie has been snake bitten this season, he has scored one goal on 72 shots. Not a great shooting percentage.

https://youtu.be/vNhsQ5LRz2A

The Regular season is officially over. Here’s the final 2016-17 NCHC season standings.

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