The road to the NCAA Tournament will be quite challenging for both the Niagara and Canisius hockey teams since they’ll have to win away from home in order to earn bids to the “Big Dance.”

The journey could be a bit bumpier for Niagara, since the defending College Hockey America conference tournament champions will likely have to go through longtime rival Bemidji State, the host team, to do it.

Niagara will be the No. 2 seed when it opens tournament play against No. 3 Robert Morris at 3 p. m. Friday in the John S. Glas Fieldhouse. (1440 AM). Top-seeded Bemidji faces No. 4 Alabama-Huntsville at 8 p. m. The winners play for the title Saturday night.

Canisius opens the Atlantic Hockey Association tournament as a No. 5 seed Friday night in the best-of- three quarterfinals against No. 4 Bentley in Waltham, Mass.

Niagara is 6-9-5 all-time in the John S. Glas Fieldhouse. With that in mind, the Purple Eagles could have given themselves a slight edge against the Beavers should both teams reach Saturday’s final. Bemidji locked up the top seed and regular- season title by sweeping a two-game series at Niagara last month.

Higher seeds in tournament games are considered the home team, which means they get the last line change — an important strategic weapon for a coach during key moments in a game.

The Purple Eagles went 2-4 this season against Bemidji, but they have beaten the Beavers for the conference title in the past as a lower seed, including 2004 when the tournament was held in Kearney, Neb.

“I think we’ve put it [the February weekend] behind us,” Niagara coach Dave Burkholder said. “Sometimes you tip your hat to your opponent and for that weekend, they were clearly the hungrier team and overall the better team. But when you go back to the previous four games or back to last year, it’s been a tremendous series and an even series. We’re not going to let one bad weekend be the stamp on our season.”

NU closed the regular season with a win and three ties — including two at Robert Morris.

Canisius hasn’t had much postseason success, losing its last six playoff games. Lack of offense is a big reason for that slide as the Griffs have not scored more than two goals in their last nine postseason games. Canisius’ last playoff win came in 2004, when it won at No. 3 seed Quinnipiac, 1-0, in overtime before losing its next game to Holy Cross.

While Bentley went 4-0 against the Griffs this season, the all-time series is knotted at 8-8-1. Canisius hasn’t won at John A. Ryan Skating Arena since Nov. 12, 2005.