July 25, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – University of Notre Dame hockey coach Jeff Jackson today announced the 2007-08 Notre Dame hockey schedule. The 40-game schedule includes 38 regular season games along with the Blue/Gold intrasquad game on Wed., Oct. 10 and an exhibition game with the U.S. National Team Development Program’s Under-18 team on Sat., Feb. 1.
This year’s schedule features teams from all six conferences – Mercyhurst and American International (Atlantic Hockey), Alabama-Huntsville (College Hockey America), Rensselaer and Princeton (ECACHL), Massachusetts (Hockey East) and Colorado College, Denver and Wisconsin (WCHA) – plus 28 CCHA regular season games.
Including the Blue/Gold game and the U.S. Under-18 team exhibition game, the Irish will play host to 17 home games, including the home-opening series with 2004 and 2005 NCAA champions, the University of Denver on Thur.-Fri., Oct. 18-19. Both games are set for 7:35 p.m. at the Joyce Center. Besides the two games with Denver, Notre Dame will host home weekend series with Lake Superior State, Nebraska-Omaha, Ferris State and Ohio State. The Irish have a pair of home-and-home series with Western Michigan and single ones with Michigan State, Bowling Green and Michigan. The home game with Michigan will be played at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Mich., on Jan. 19. Notre Dame and Bowling Green also will play a pair of Tuesday night games on Oct. 23 at Bowling Green and Nov. 20 at the Joyce Center.
Notre Dame’s game at the Palace of Auburn Hills versus Michigan, marks the first time that the Irish have played at that venue since Feb. 16, 1996 when they faced the Wolverines there. Between 1992 and 1996, the Irish played a total of five games at the Palace. Notre Dame last played Michigan at a neutral site on Feb. 18, 2006 when the two teams squared off in Ft. Wayne, Ind., at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Since the 2002-03 season, the Irish have played four “home” games at neutral sites, playing twice at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., and twice in Ft. Wayne at the Coliseum.
Notre Dame’s CCHA-rivalry cluster for the 2007-08 season includes Bowling Green, Western Michigan and Ferris State. The Irish will face each of those school’s four times with two games at home and two away. Miami, Northern Michigan and Alaska join Michigan as the teams that will not play at the Joyce Center this season.
Besides the 28-game CCHA schedule, Notre Dame will play a pair of regular season games at ECACHL foe, Princeton, and also participate in three in-season tournaments.
The Irish open the 2007-08 regular season campaign at the Lefty McFadden Invitational at Dayton, Ohio on Oct. 12 versus Wisconsin in a 5:05 p.m. game. Ohio State and Mercyhurst play in the second game with the third place and championship games set for Oct. 13.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 23-24, Notre Dame travels to Troy, N.Y., to participate in the oldest college hockey tournament in the country, the 57th Annual Rensselaer Holiday Tournament. The Irish play in the opening game at 4:00 p.m. versus the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers in a rematch of last seasons, dramatic, 3-2 double overtime win in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The second game features the host team, Rensselaer (RPI) and American International College (AIC). Games both days are set for 4:00 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
Notre Dame closes out its in-season tournaments on Dec. 29-20 when the Irish travel to Tampa, Fla., to defend their 2006 Lightning College Hockey Classic title. Notre Dame will face the University of Massachusetts in the opening game at 5:05 p.m. with Colorado College facing Rensselaer at 8:05 p.m. The third-place and championship games will be played the following night at 5:05 p.m. and 8:05 p.m. Last season, the Irish won the first ever Lighting College Hockey Classic with wins over Army and Air Force. The tournament will be played at the St. Pete Times Forum, the home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lighting.
Game times for all Notre Dame home games are 7:35 p.m. for weekday games (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) and 7:05 p.m. on Saturday nights.
For all Notre Dame hockey ticket information contact the Notre Dame ticket office at (574) 631-7356.
2007-08 Notre Dame Hockey ScheduleOctober 10 Wed. Blue/Gold Game (exhibition) 7:35 p.m. Lefty McFadden Invitational (at Dayton, Ohio) 12 Fri. vs. Wisconsin 5:05 p.m. 13 Sat. vs. Ohio State or Mercyhurst 4:35 p.m./7:35 p.m. 18 Thur. Denver 7:35 p.m. 19 Fri. Denver 7:35 p.m. 23 Tues. at Bowling Green * 7:05 p.m. 26 Fri. at Ferris State * 7:05 p.m. 27 Sat. at Ferris State * 7:05 p.m.
November 1 Thur. Lake Superior State * 7:35 p.m. 2 Fri. Lake Superior State * 7:35 p.m. 9 Fri. at Miami * 7:35 p.m. 10 Sat. at Miami * 7:05 p.m. 16 Fri. Western Michigan * 7:35 p.m. 17 Sat. at Western Michigan * 7:35 p.m. 20 Tues. Bowling Green * 7:35 p.m. 57th Annual Rensselaer Holiday Tournament (at Troy, N.Y.) 23 Fri. vs. Alabama-Huntsville 4:00 p.m. 24 Sat. vs. Rensselaer or AIC 4:00 p.m./7:15 p.m. 30 Fri. Nebraska-Omaha * 7:35 p.m.
December 1 Sat. Nebraska-Omaha * 7:05 p.m. 7 Fri. at Princeton 7:05 p.m. 8 Sat. at Princeton 7:05 p.m. Lightning College Hockey Classic (at Tampa, Fla.) 29 Sat. vs. Massachusetts 5:05 p.m. 30 Sun. vs. Colorado College or Rensselaer 5:05 p.m./8:05 p.m.
January 4 Fri. at Northern Michigan * 7:35 p.m. 5 Sat. at Northern Michigan * 7:35 p.m. 11 Fri. at Michigan State * 7:05 p.m. 12 Sat. Michigan State * 7:05 p.m. 18 Fri. at Michigan * 7:35 p.m. 19 Sat. vs. Michigan * (at Auburn Hills, Mich.) 7:05 p.m. 25 Fri. Bowling Green * 7:35 p.m. 26 Sat. at Bowling Green * 7:05 p.m.
February 1 Fri U.S. Under-18 Team (exhibition) 7:35 p.m. 8 Fri. Ferris State * 7:35 p.m. 9 Sat. Ferris State * 7:05 p.m. 15 Fri. at Alaska * 7:05 p.m. (AST) 16 Sat. at Alaska * 7:05 p.m. (AST) 22 Fri. Ohio State * 7:35 p.m. 23 Sat. Ohio State * 7:05 p.m. 29 Fri. at Western Michigan * 7:35 p.m.
March 1 Sat. Western Michigan * 7:05 p.m. 7-9 Fri.-Sun. First Round CCHA Playoffs (at Campus Sites) TBA14-16 Fri.-Sun. Second Round CCHA Playoffs (at Campus Sites) TBA21-22 Fri.-Sat. at CCHA Championships TBA (at Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Mich.)28-30 Fri.-Sun. at NCAA Regionals TBA (at Albany, N.Y., Madison, Wis., Worcester, Mass., Colorado Spr., Colo.)
April10/12 Thur./Sat. at NCAA Frozen Four (at Denver, Colo.) TBA
HOME GAMES IN BOLD* CCHA Conference gamesDates and times subject to change; times local to site