For the first half of the season, Yost Ice Arena was not the friendly confines that the Michigan hockey program has come to expect - the Wolverines were 7-2-2 on the road heading into winter break, but just 3-3-1 at home.

But in the season's second half, the Wolverines discovered the comforts of home that have made Yost one of the most difficult places for opponents to play in the CCHA.

And if Michigan hopes to continue its season at the Frozen Four from April 4-6 in St. Paul, Minn., the Wolverines are going to need the success from the latter portion of the season. After the break, Michigan went 8-3 at home en route to a CCHA regular season title.

The fourth-seeded Wolverines will host the West Regional's first two rounds, opening their postseason with a rematch of last year's quarterfinal against No. 5 seed St. Cloud.

"We never really had a home mentality because we struggled so much early at home," Michigan forward Eric Nystrom said. "We're trying to come in with a road mentality - we just need to be hitting and keeping it simple and feed off the crowd."

No. 3 seed Michigan State will open the action at Yost by taking on No. 6 Colorado College this afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

"It's going to be a great night, some great hockey, and it's going to be really exciting," Nystrom said.

When Michigan defeated St. Cloud 4-3 in Grand Rapids last year, the proximity to Ann Arbor gave the Wolverines a home-ice advantage.

This year, that advantage is more than a feeling.

When the Wolverines last hosted a regional in 1998, the home crowd was a major catalyst in Michigan's 4-3 come-from-behind win over top-seeded powerhouse North Dakota.

"We learned how to play in front of our home crowd halfway through the season," Michigan captain Jed Ortmeyer said. "We're looking for them to be loud and hopefully give us a boost."

But even with the hostile environment awaiting them tonight, the Huskies don't appear to be fazed.

"We played in Wisconsin and Marriuci Arena (Minnesota's home rink), and we just have to treat it like one of those games," St. Cloud forward Nate DiCasmirro said. "Yeah, it's going to be loud and crazy, but we're used to it."

St. Cloud's cheerleaders were stunned by the treatment they received in last season's game.

"Michigan fans ... they're horrible people," St. Cloud cheerleader Molly McGannon told the St. Cloud Times. "It's like they've never seen hockey cheerleaders. Their band was obnoxious."

Even with the home crowd behind them, the Wolverines are hoping to use the NCAA Tournament to once again prove themselves. They did just that in CCHA play by overcoming youth and Mike Cammalleri's absence in order to capture the league's regular season and playoff titles."I think we're coming in with the underdog role," said Cammalleri of his team's No. 4 seed. "All year people have been counting us out. Nobody picked us to win the league and we won the league. Nobody picked us to win the playoffs and we won the playoffs."