Wolverines announce '06-07 schedule

The Michigan Wolverines will play 36 regular-season contests, including 18 at Yost Ice Arena, and will face five opponents that finished the 2005-06 season ranked in the top 15 nationally by the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

The Wolverines' 85th season begins with the annual Blue/White intrasquad scrimmage on Sept. 30. The following weekend U-M has a pair of exhibition games against Canadian university Waterloo (Oct. 6) and the U.S. National Team Development Program (Oct. 8).

Michigan kicks off the campaign with nine of its first 10 games on home ice, including the first six tilts. Michigan will oppose Alabama-Huntsville on opening night, Friday, Oct. 13, in the just the second meeting all-time between the two schools. The first weekend of the regular season concludes with the first ever meeting with Connecticut on Oct. 14.

The Wolverines open their 28-game CCHA schedule against the defending conference champion, Miami, in a Thursday-Friday series (Oct. 19-20) at Yost Ice Arena. Northeastern travels to Ann Arbor for two games on Oct. 27-28 to conclude Michigan's early non-conference schedule.

The first road test of the season comes against the Spartans of Michigan State on Nov. 3. It will be the lone match-up between the rivals played in East Lansing in 2006-07. Game two of the weekend series with MSU will be in Ann Arbor on Nov. 4. Michigan's long homestand to start the season wraps up following Nebraska-Omaha's visit to Yost Ice Arena on Nov. 10-11.

Michigan heads to Big Rapids to take on clustermate Ferris State on Nov. 17-18. FSU makes the return trip to Ann Arbor on Jan. 26-27. U-M's four-team cluster includes MSU, FSU and Western Michigan this season. U-M plays home-and-home weekends against WMU on Dec. 1-2 and Feb. 2-3. Michigan's last two games with the Spartans are on Nov. 21 at Yost Ice Arena and Feb. 10 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The 14th annual College Hockey Showcase is slated for Thanksgiving weekend. U-M meets the 2006 NCAA Champion Wisconsin Badgers on Nov. 24, and then takes on Minnesota on Nov. 25.

U-M finishes the first half of the season with home-and-home weekends versus WMU (Dec. 1-2) and Notre Dame (Dec. 8-9).Michigan's other regular season tournament, the 42nd annual Great Lakes Invitational, takes place Dec. 29-30 at Joe Louis Arena. U-M will face Michigan Tech in one semifinal while Michigan State plays invitee Harvard in the other.

U-M comes out of the mid-season break with three consecutive home games against Bowling Green (Jan. 9) and Northern Michigan (Jan. 12-13). Then the Wolverines make the trek north to visit the University of Alaska (formerly University of Alaska Fairbanks) Jan. 19-20.

The Maize and Blue spends the final three weekends of the season away from Yost. U-M plays at BGSU on Feb. 9 and then vs. MSU at Joe Louis Arena on Feb. 10. Michigan plays a "road-and-Joe" series with Lake Superior State on Feb. 16 and 18, respectively. The last weekend of the year will be in Columbus, Ohio against the Buckeyes (Feb. 23-24).

For the second consecutive season all 12 CCHA teams will qualify for the CCHA Tournament, but seeds 1-4 will receive first-round byes for the weekend of March 2-4, during which the squads that finished fifth through 12th will play best-of-three series at campus sites. The four teams remaining after the first round will travel to the campuses of top four seeds for a second round of best-of-three series March 9-11. Teams will be reseeded following the first round. The four teams that emerge from the second round will move on to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the CCHA semifinals and finals Friday and Saturday, March 16-17. The victor of the CCHA Tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The road to the Frozen Four will travel through four NCAA Regional sites. Two regionals will be held on March 23-24, with the ECAC hosting the East Regional at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., and the Midwest Regional, hosted by Western Michigan University, being played at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. On March 24-25, University of New Hampshire will host the Northeast Regional at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., while the University of Denver hosts the West Regional at the Pepsi Arena in Denver, Colo.

Having made a record-setting 16 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the Wolverines will be driving to get back to the Frozen Four after missing out in each of the last three campaigns. The 2007 Frozen Four will take place in St. Louis, Mo., with games being played at the Savvis Center. The national semifinals will be on Thursday, April 5, and the NCAA championship game will be played on Saturday, April 7.

Michigan's 2006-07 schedule here.