Men's Hockey | 5/4/2015 9:52:00 AM

Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State men's hockey team is slated to play 18 home games in 2015-16 as the University formally announced its schedule today.

The schedule, which includes four opponents which appeared in the 2014-15 NCAA tournament, features ten home contests prior to the end of December and eight home games in the second half of the schedule.
    
Following an exhibition game vs. a to-be-announced opponent, the Mavericks begin regular-season action with a nonconference home series vs. Nebraska Omaha (Oct. 9-10).  A nonconference road series at St. Cloud State Oct. 16-17 serves as a precursor to the first WCHA action of the year with a road set at Bemidji State scheduled for Oct. 23-24.  The University of Alaska visits Verizon Wireless Center Oct. 30-31 prior to a road trip to Ferris State Nov. 6-7. The Mavericks have a home-and-home series slated with the University of Minnesota Nov. 13-14 (in Mankato Friday, at Mariucci Saturday) and are at Northern Michigan Nov. 20-21. Alaska Anchorage comes to Mankato Nov. 27-28 and the pre-holiday schedule wraps up with a league road series at Bowling Green (Dec. 4-5) and a home series vs. Alabama-Huntsville Dec. 11-12.

The Mavericks start the New Year with a WCHA home series Jan. 8-9 vs. Northern Michigan and a road series at Michigan Tech Jan. 15-16. Lake Superior State visits the Key City Jan. 22-23 before the Mavericks participate in the North Star College Cup in St. Paul Jan. 29-30. The other teams in this year's event at Xcel Energy Center are St. Cloud State (which the Mavericks will play the first round), Bemidji State and Minnesota.

The final eight games of the regular season include WCHA contests vs. Bowling Green (Feb. 5-7 in Mankato), Alabama Huntsville (Feb. 12-13 in Huntsville), Alaska Anchorage (Feb. 26-27 in Anchorage) and Bemidji State (March 4-5 in Mankato).

Besides Minnesota State, the schedule includes four teams in Nebraska Omaha, St. Cloud State, Minnesota and Michigan Tech, that appeared in the 2014-15 NCAA tournament.  

Single-game tickets for Minnesota State men's hockey home games will be available at the beginning of October. Season tickets are now on sale online here.

Ranked #1 in the nation for five weeks during the course of the 2014-15 campaign, Minnesota State is coming off a season in which it established a school record for wins with a 29-8-3 overall mark and in addition to WCHA regular season and postseason tournament titles, made its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament.