FARGO - Not that University of North Dakota fans ever really need a reason to cheer against regional teams, but here’s another if the University of North Dakota men’s hockey fans need tickets to Friday and Saturday’s NCAA West Regional at Scheels Arena.
Within minutes of going on sale in October, the 3,500 tickets for the public were gone. On StubHub last week, two tickets were being offered for three-game packages for as low as $324.99 to as much as $650.
Three-game packages were originally sold from $74-$89 a ticket.
“Most went to UND fans, and our suite ticket holders got pre-sale tickets,” Scheels Arena general manager Jon Kram said. “We’re honored and thrilled. It’s the biggest event that we’ve hosted. We hope it’s something that brings other events like this or have this event return in the future.”
Each team in the regional is allotted 400 tickets, but the farther away from Fargo a team is, the more likely fewer of those tickets will be used by a school.
“Some teams obviously travel much better than others,” UND/Ralph Engelstad Arena ticket manager Heather Reardon said. “In my past experiences, schools don’t typically use all 400 if they’re coming from across the country. They have the right to use all 400, but typically teams don’t for regionals.”
If a team does not use a portion of the 400 tickets, Reardon will find out Wednesday and those remaining tickets will be on sale to the public at 9 a.m. Thursday. According to Reardon, people will have to physically go to Scheels Arena on Thursday morning to purchase the tickets.
Kram said Scheels Arena is ready to go, despite some problems with ice during the United States Hockey League season. The switches between a basketball court for North Dakota State men’s basketball and ice for the Fargo Force weren’t easy this season, but Kram says it won’t affect the West Regional.
“When we were going from hockey to basketball back to basketball, you saw the ice was a little rougher for Force games. But for this event, we shaved it down and rebuilt it,” Kram said. “We’ve done our homework and talked to other hosts. We brought in a dehumidifier to help with our ice quality. We’re bringing in a generator to help with our ESPN broadcasts. We’ve crossed the ‘T’s’ and dotted the ‘I’s’ to ensure the event runs smooth.”
Outside of alcohol not being sold to the general public, Kram said there weren’t many things fans need to know about arguably the biggest sporting event ever to come to Fargo.
The games will have the spotlight.
“It’s three great games of hockey,” Kram said. “There’s not a lot of extracurriculars. It’s focused on championship hockey weekend.”
