Spartan Hockey Releases 2015-16 Schedule
EAST LANSING - The Michigan State hockey program announced its complete 2015-16 schedule on Wednesday, June 3. The slate includes 36 regular season games and two exhibition games leading up to the 2016 Big Ten Tournament, which will take place at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Spartans will play a total of 16 non-conference games against opponents from Hockey East, the WCHA and NCHC. The 20-game Big Ten schedule will begin the first weekend of December.
After hosting an exhibition game vs. Western Ontario on Oct. 4, Michigan State will open the 2015-16 campaign with the 19th-annual Ice Breaker Tournament in Portland, Maine, Oct. 9-10. The Spartans will meet host Maine on Friday night and then take on Lake Superior State the following afternoon. The games will take place at Cross Insurance Ice Arena.
MSU will travel to Denver for the first time since 1980 to take on the Pioneers, Oct. 16-17.
The Spartans will make their inaugural home appearance of 2015-16 on Thursday, Oct. 22, when they host former CCHA foe Lake Superior State in the first of two games on consecutive nights at Munn Ice Arena.
November will be the Spartans’ busiest month of the season at Munn with six home games. The Spartans will begin the month with New Hampshire, Nov. 6-7. MSU and UNH split a two-game series last season in Durham, N.H., and the Wildcats are making their first appearance at Munn since 2004.
The month continues with the Spartans hosting a pair of teams that haven’t made a visit to East Lansing since the 1980s as Michigan Tech (Nov. 20-21) and North Dakota (Nov. 27, 29) will both square off against MSU at Munn. The Huskies last visit to East Lansing came in 1986, while North Dakota hasn’t played at Munn since 1980.
MSU’s lone road game of November will take place on the 13th when it travels to Boston College.
The Spartans will begin Big Ten play Dec. 4-5 at Penn State before returning to host Wisconsin the following weekend, Dec. 11-12, at Munn.
Michigan State will make its second trip of the season to Boston on Dec. 19 to take on Northeastern in its final game before Christmas.
The Spartans will meet Michigan Tech for the third time in 2015 in the opening game of the 51st-annual Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 29 at Joe Louis Arena. Michigan and Northern Michigan round out this year’s tournament field.
MSU will begin the New Year with the oldest and most-played rivalry in college hockey, taking on Michigan at home on Jan. 8 and then completing the home-and-home series the following night in Ann Arbor.
The Spartans’ other two conference series in January will take place on the road, at Minnesota, Jan. 15-16, and at Ohio State, Jan. 29-30.
The only other home game during the month of January will be on the 23rd when the Spartans take on the U.S. National Team Development Program U-18 squad in an exhibition contest.
The Spartans and Wolverines will conclude their season series the opening weekend of February, playing at Joe Louis Arena on the 5th and then at Munn on the 6th.
MSU hosts Penn State, Feb. 12-13, and closes the month on the road at Wisconsin, Feb. 19-20.
Michigan State will end the regular season with four consecutive home games, March 4-5 vs. Minnesota and March 11-12 vs. Ohio State.
The 2015 Big Ten Tournament at Xcel Energy Center begins with the quarterfinals on March 17. The semifinals will take place the following day and the championship on Saturday, March 19.
Start times and television coverage will be announced once determined by the Big Ten Conference.
