July 9, 2008

Printable Schedule

East Lansing, Mich. - Thirteen games against six NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago highlight the 2008-09 Michigan State hockey schedule, as released by head coach Rick Comley on Wednesday, July 9. The Spartans will participate in the Ice Breaker Tournament at Boston University's Agganis Arena to start the season, adding an additional in-season tournament to the annual College Hockey Showcase and Great Lakes Invitational on Michigan State's schedule.

This year's cluster scheduling for the CCHA finds the Spartans paired with traditional rival Michigan, along with Ohio State and Miami. MSU, Miami, and Michigan have all finished in the top four of the league in four of the last five seasons, and have been in the NCAA Tournament field in each of the last three years.

"We really think that our schedule prepares us to meet our expectations - which is to be in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season," noted head coach Rick Comley. "This will be a challenging schedule for a young team - we will play our traditional Big Ten rivals in the Showcase and play North Dakota in the first round of the GLI, and also take on three Hockey East schools - Boston University and UMass in the Ice Breaker, then UMass-Lowell a week later at home."

The Spartans, who will skate in an exhibition game at Munn Arena against Western Ontario on Monday, Oct. 6, head east to Boston for the Ice Breaker on Oct. 10-11. On Friday, MSU tangles with the University of Massachusetts in the matinee contest (4:30 p.m.) before taking on host Boston University on Saturday evening. Michigan State returns home for five straight home games, beginning with the home-opening series (Oct. 16-17) against UMass-Lowell. The CCHA opener comes the following weekend (Oct. 24-25), when Northern Michigan comes to Munn Arena. The series will be a rematch of last year's CCHA quarterfinal series, won in dramatic fashion by the Wildcats. Oct. 31 brings Western Michigan to East Lansing.

November, December, and January finds the Spartans away from home for a majority of their games - 16 of 21 games will be played on the road, beginning with the back end of the home-and-home with Western Michigan on Nov. 1. The Spartans are off to Ohio State on Nov. 7-8, then return home for their only remaining home series of 2008, against Miami on Nov. 14-15. MSU then travels to Omaha to take on UNO on Nov. 21-22; the month closes out with the College Hockey Showcase games at Wisconsin (Nov. 29) and Minnesota (Nov. 30).

December is much of the same road show, as the month opens with the first of two series against archrival Michigan - the teams face off on Friday Dec. 5 at Yost, and then the following evening at Munn Arena. An exhibition against the US National Team Development program closes out MSU's pre-holiday action on Tuesday, Dec. 16, after the Spartans finish first-semester exams. The 44th annual Great Lakes Invitational begins Saturday, Dec. 27, when MSU takes on North Dakota in the first round; the winner will tangle with either Michigan or Michigan Tech on Sunday night in the championship game.

The calendar year 2009 opens with Alaska's trip to the mainland, where the Nanooks will take on the Spartans at Munn on Jan. 2-3. MSU then has a set at Miami (Jan. 16-17), and plays at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit against Michigan on Jan. 23, before facing off with the Wolverines again at Yost the next evening. Michigan State takes on Lake Superior in Sault Ste. Marie on Jan. 30-31.

The home schedule is more forgiving to MSU in February, as the stretch run of the season begins. It starts with a home-and-home with Ferris State (Fen. 6-7) before Ohio State comes in for a pair on Valentine's Day weekend. The season ends with home-and-home series against Bowling Green (Feb. 20-21) and Notre Dame (Feb. 27-28). The MSU-Notre Dame games have become a true rivalry in recent seasons, as MSU eliminated top-ranked Notre Dame in the NCAA regional final in 2007 en route to the National Championship; Notre Dame returned the favor in 2008 in the regional final, and went on to the National Championship game.

The CCHA Tournament begins on March 6 at campus sites, and culminates with the league's championship weekend March 20-21 in Detroit. The four NCAA regional sites are Bridgeport, Conn., Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Manchester, N.H., and will be contested March 28-30; regional winners will advance to the Frozen Four at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. April 10-12.

Michigan State welcomes 11 newcomers this fall who will join the Spartan roster. MSU is one of three teams - North Dakota and Boston College are the others - who have won at least one game in NCAA Tournament competition in each of the last three seasons.

MSU Ice Hockey

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