Tyler Curnow and three of his friends were the first in line for the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey student season ticket sale, hunkering down in the Sports and Health Center lobby around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night. By the time the UMD ticket office opened its windows for business at 3:30 p.m. the following afternoon, that quartet had plenty of company -- an estimated 500-plus students. And growing.

The 800 UMD student season tickets  were sold out at 9:15 p.m.

The defending NCAA champion Bulldogs will take on Lakehead University in an exhibition matchup at AMSOIL Arena on Oct. 2 before officially opening its 2011-12 regular season the following weekend with a two-game home series against the University of Notre Dame. Those two clubs met last April in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals.