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There’s just two weeks left in the regular season and the Fairbanks Ice Dogs playoff fortunes are still as undecided as they were on opening day.

The Ice Dogs could finish anywhere from first to third place in the North American Hockey League’s South Division, depending upon the outcome of games played this weekend and next.

“It’s amazing to me that we could wind up with 40 wins and still finish in third place in our division,” Ice Dogs coach and general manager Rob Proffitt said Wednesday afternoon.

Entering the weekend, the Ice Dogs are in third place with a 36-15-3 record and 75 points. The Topeka RoadRunners lead the league at 36-11-7 (79 points) and Wichita Falls is in second place with a 38-15-2 mark (78 points).

Fairbanks and Topeka each have four games left on the schedule and Wichita Falls has three. The top two seeds earn home ice in the first round of the playoffs. The first tiebreaker is total numbers of wins.

“The only thing we know right now is that we’re going to have to win out to have any chance to get home ice,” Proffitt said.

The Ice Dogs begin their final stretch run with 7:30 p.m. games against the Kenai River Brown Bears (11-37-8) on Friday and Saturday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

Meanwhile, Topeka has a two-game series at Southern Minnesota (28-18-8) and Wichita Falls is hosting Springfield (25-24-4). Southern Minnesota is locked into second place in the Central Division and Springfield will most likely finish third in the same division.

The following weekend, Fairbanks hosts the Alaska Avalanche, while Topeka plays Texas and Wichita Falls.

Proffitt said he’s not sure what to expect the next two weeks as the Ice Dogs take on their Alaska rivals who are out of the playoff picture.

“It’s kind of a combustible situation,” he said. “They could come in here and play hard and try to wreck our chances, or they could come in here and play stupid and not care. They’re all 20-year-olds, so you never know what’s going to happen.”

Proffitt just wants his players to stay cool under the pressure of having to win four games.

“Things could go in 400 different directions, but we have to control ourselves and be methodical,” he said. “We have to do things the right way and not the easy way.”

The Ice Dogs are relatively healthy going into the homestretch of the regular season with only two players on the injured list. Randen Hill is still out with a broken hand and Gianni Baldassari is still trying to get back into game-shape after suffering complications from an emergency appendectomy in late November.

This weekend’s series with Kenai River is sponsored by American Tire and Auto and there will be a variety of giveaways during each game.

The Ice Dogs also will hold jersey auctions between periods of their four remaining games. At least six jerseys will be auctioned off each night.