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The Fairbanks Ice Dogs will get to play at least one and possibly as many as three more games in the friendly confines of the Big Dipper Ice Arena, according to the North American Hockey League South Division Finals schedule released Monday afternoon.

The Ice Dogs are scheduled to play the Topeka RoadRunners in the best-of-five series that will determine which team advances to the Robertson Cup Championships early next month in St. Louis.

The first two games of the series are scheduled for 4:05 p.m. (ADT) Thursday and Friday in Topeka. The teams will then head to Fairbanks with Game 3 set for 7 p.m. April 23 at the Dipper. If needed, the final two games of the series will be played at 7:30 p.m. on April 25 and 26.

Information about the availability of tickets will be published when released.

Topeka won the Southern Division title with a regular season record of 39-11-8. The Ice Dogs were second at 39-15-4, the best season in the history of the team.

The Ice Dogs and RoadRunners played four times during the regular season. Fairbanks won the first game in Topeka by a 5-4 score. Topeka came back to claim an 8-2 win in the second game. The series shifted to Fairbanks where Topeka skated a pair of victories, 6-2 and 2-1 in a shootout.

Topeka swept its opening-round series against the Texas Tornado. Fairbanks took its opening-round series from Wichita Falls in four games, including a pair of wins at Wichita on Friday and Saturday.

“There’s no question that Proff (Ice Dogs coach and general manager Rob Proffitt) will have his guys ready,” Topeka coach and general manager general manager Scott Langer said.

“They have solid goaltending, as do we, and we’ve played some tight games with them this year,” he said. “At the same time, our guys are healthy and rested and ready for the challenge. I expect a great series between two very good teams.

The Mahoning Valley Phantoms will take on St. Louis Bandits for the North Division title. Since St. Louis is hosting the Robertson Cup Championship, Mahoning Valley has an automatic berth in the four-team national tournament.

Mahoning Valley and St. Louis both swept their opening-round series. Mahoning Valley downed the Alpena Ice Diggers 3-2, 5-2 an 3-2. St. Louis notched 4-2, 7-2 and 6-2 wins over the U.S. National Team Development Program.

The Central Division Finals feature the Springfield Junior Blues against the Alexandria Blizzard.

No. 4 Springfield advanced with a stunning sweep of the No. 1 North Iowa Outlaws — 3-1, 6-2 and 5-4 in overtime.

Alexandria won a five-game series against Southern Minnesota, as the road team won in all five games. Alexandria opened the series with wins 6-3 and 3-2 in overtime.

Southern Minnesota bounced back to snare 5-3 and 4-2 wins to even the series. Alexandria then won the deciding game, 5-2.

Contact the News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.