UND earns No. 1 seed, 13th straight NCAA tourney berth

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota, which will host the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey West Regional next weekend in Fargo, has earned a No. 1 seed and will host Quinnipiac in one of two regional semifinals on Friday. UND’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central and can be seen live on ESPNU.

Michigan Tech will meet St. Cloud State in the other West Region semifinal at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN3. The regional championship game takes place on Saturday, March 29, at 8 p.m.

North Dakota will be making the 30^th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and its 13^th in a row, tying Minnesota (1985-97) for the second longest streak in NCAA Division I men’s hockey history. Only Michigan, which went to 22 consecutive tournaments from 1991 to 2012, had a longer streak in the history of the sport. UND has won seven national championships in men’s hockey, a total topped only by Michigan’s nine.

UND earned the No. 1 seed (No. 2 overall) after going 27-9-3 in a season that included the Penrose Cup as National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular-season champion. Quinnipiac, a member of the ECAC, is 23-11-4 this season. The only two previous meetings between the two teams came in Oct. 2006, when UND swept a 2-game non-conference series in Grand Forks.

At this time, available tickets to the West Regional are sold out. Should tickets currently being held for various groups per NCAA bid specifications become available, those tickets will go on sale to the general public in person only at the SCHEELS Arena Box office on Thursday, March 26 at 9 a.m. UND Athletics will make an official announcement the afternoon of Wednesday, March 25 on UNDsports.com and official social media outlets if tickets become available.

The North Dakota Champions Club is hosting an official UND pregame party at Fargo Billiards and Gastro Pub. The pregame party starts three hours prior to any game in which UND is participating.

Parking at SCHEELS Arena is limited and fans are encouraged consider alternate parking options. A shuttle service will run between Fargo Billiards and Gastro Pub, Anderson Softball Complex on 45th Street South, Bulldog Tap and SCHEELS Arena. Shuttles will run two hours before the first game of each day and will continue until one hour after the final game ends.