Michigan State University Athletics
Spartan Hockey Releases 2003-04 Schedule
7/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
July 23, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Michigan State head coach Rick Comley announced the 2003-04 Spartan hockey schedule Wednesday (July 23). The 40-game schedule features 24 games at Munn Ice Arena, including the season-opening Ice Breaker Tournament, the College Hockey Showcase against Minnesota and Wisconsin and a pair of contests vs. Michigan.
The Spartans, who open up their 63rd year of varsity hockey in 2003-04, begin the season with the annual Green and White game on Thursday, Oct. 2, which will give Spartan fans a first glimpse of the squad. MSU tunes up for the season opener with an exhibition contest against Windsor on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2:05 p.m.
State opens the regular season, hosting the 2003 Ice Breaker Tournament Oct. 10-11 at Munn Ice Arena. This year's Ice Breaker features Hockey East foe Boston College, who lost in the NCAA East Regional Finals last year; WCHA member Minnesota-Duluth, who upset St. Cloud State in the first round of the WCHA playoffs last year and finished third at the WCHA Tournament; College Hockey America member Findlay along with MSU. On Friday, Boston College will meet Minnesota-Duluth at 5 p.m., following by Michigan State and Findlay at 8 p.m. The third-place game is set for 5 p.m., while the title game is at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
The CCHA's scheduling format divides the conference into six "rivalry pairings" which are then grouped into three clusters of four teams. Schools play other teams in their cluster four times during the season, and face the league's remaining eight schools twice. Under the current format, Michigan State is paired with Michigan as its' rivalry pair. MSU's cluster also features Ohio State and Miami this season.
The CCHA slate kicks the weekend of Oct. 17-18 when Ohio State visits East Lansing. MSU will face Western Michigan in an home-and-home series Oct. 24-25 and Ferris State in another home-and-home series Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Notre Dame heads to East Lansing Nov. 7-8, before the State travels to Oxford, Ohio, for a two-game set with Miami Nov. 14-15.
Wayne State and the Spartans meet for the first time in school history on Thursday-Friday, Nov. 20-21. The Warriors, a member of College Hockey America, made their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament last year and have won three straight CHA tournaments.
The 11th annual College Hockey Showcase heads to East Lansing and Ann Arbor on Thanksgiving weekend. MSU, which has compiled a 12-6-2 mark in Showcase action, faces two-time defending NCAA Champion Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday, Nov. 28. The last two meetings between the schools have ended in deadlocks - 4-4 in overtime in East Lansing on Nov. 25, 2001 and 5-5 in overtime in Minneapolis on Nov. 29, 2002. On Saturday, Nov. 29, Wisconsin arrives at Munn Arena. The Spartans have won eight of the last nine meetings between the schools.
The following weekend, MSU will face Michigan in a home-and-home series. On Friday, Dec. 5, the teams will meet in Ann Arbor, while on Saturday, Dec. 6, the site moves to Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans and Wolverines will close out the regular season March 5-6, as the teams meet in East Lansing March 5 and at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit March 6. It marks the first time since the 1989-90 season that the Wolverines will make two appearances in East Lansing.
An exhibition game against the U.S. Under-18 Team on Wednesday, Dec. 17 will be the Spartans last contest before the 10-day holiday break. MSU returns to action Dec. 27-28 at the 39th annual Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena where the Spartans will be looking for their 10th GLI title and their first since the 2000 season. This year's field features: Boston College, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Michigan. U-M and BC will meet Dec. 27, at 4 p.m., in game one, while MSU and MTU will square off in game two at 7:30 p.m. The third-place game is set for 1:30 p.m., while the title contest will face-off at 5 p.m. on Dec. 29.
The Spartans kick-off the second half of the season with four-straight home games, facing Northern Michigan Jan. 2-3 and Hockey East member UMass-Lowell Jan. 9-10. The RiverHawks will meet MSU for the first time since the 1996 NCAA West Regional, when UML beat State 6-2 in East Lansing.
Eight of MSU's next 10 contests will be on the road with treks to Bowling Green (Jan. 16-17), Ohio State (Jan. 23-24), Lake Superior (Feb. 5 in Sault Ste. Marie and Feb. 7 at Joe Louis Arena) and Alaska Fairbanks (Feb. 13-14). The Spartans' lone home contest during the stretch is a two-game set with Miami Jan. 30-31.
The final regular-season run features a pair of home games vs. Nebraska-Omaha (Feb. 20-21) and a pair with Michigan (March 5 at Munn Ice Arena and March 6 at Joe Louis Arena). UNO will be making its first trip to East Lansing since the 2000-01 season.
All 12 teams qualify for the CCHA Tournament for the third-straight season. The first round, a best-of-three games series, will take place at six campus sites March 12-14, with the six winners advancing to the CCHA Super Six Championship at Joe Louis Arena (March 18-20). At the Joe, the top two remaining seeds from the first round will receive byes into the semifinals, while the remaining four teams will play on Thursday, March 18. The semifinals will take place on Friday, March 19, followed by the championship game on Saturday, March 20. The winner of the CCHA Super Six will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The road to Frozen Four will travel through four NCAA Regional sites. Two regionals will be held on March 26-27, with New Hampshire putting on the Northeast Regional at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., and the West Regional, hosted by Colorado College, being played at the Colorado Springs World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. On March 27-28, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will host the East Regional at Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y., while Western Michigan hosts the Midwest Regional at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The 2004 NCAA Frozen Four, which is hosted by Boston University, will be held at the Fleet Center in Boston, Mass., April 8-10.
Season ticket renewal forms will be mailed in mid August. For information regarding mini-plan ticket packages, please contact the MSU Ticket Office at 517.355.1610 or 1-800-GO-STATE beginning in mid August. Ticket information also will be available online at msuspartans.com.
2003-04 Michigan State Hockey Schedule
Date Opponent Site Time (ET)Thurs., Oct. 2 Green and White game (ex) East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sun., Oct. 5 Windsor (ex) East Lansing, Mich. 2:05 p.m.Fri., Oct. 10 Ice Breaker Tournament East Lansing, Mich. 5/8 p.m. Boston College vs. Minnesota-Duluth 5 p.m. Michigan State vs. Findlay 8 p.m.Sat., Oct. 11 Ice Breaker Tournament East Lansing, Mich. Third-place/Championship Games 5/8 p.m.Fri., Oct. 17 Ohio State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Oct. 18 Ohio State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Oct. 24 Western Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Oct. 25 at Western Michigan * Kalamazoo, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Oct. 31 FERRIS STATE * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 1 at Ferris State * Big Rapids, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Nov. 7 Notre Dame * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 8 Notre Dame * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Nov. 14 at Miami (Ohio) * Oxford, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 15 at Miami (Ohio) * Oxford, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Thurs., Nov. 20 Wayne State East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Nov. 21 Wayne State East Lansing, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Fri., Nov. 28 Minnesota % East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 29 Wisconsin % East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Dec. 5 at Michigan * Ann Arbor, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Dec. 6 Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Wed., Dec. 17 U.S. Under-18 Team (ex) East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Dec. 27 Great Lakes Invitational ! Detroit, Mich. Michigan vs. Boston College 4 p.m. Michigan State vs. Michigan Tech 7:30 p.m.Sun., Dec. 28 Great Lakes Invitational ! Detroit, Mich. Third-place/Championship Games 1:30/5 p.m.Fri., Jan. 2 Northern Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 3 Northern Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 9 UMass-Lowell East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 10 UMass-Lowell East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 16 at Bowling Green * Bowling Green, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 17 at Bowling Green * Bowling Green, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 23 at Ohio State * Columbus, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 24 at Ohio State * Columbus, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 30 Miami * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 31 Miami * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Thurs., Feb. 5 at Lake Superior State * Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 7 vs. Lake Superior State * @ Detroit, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Fri., Feb. 13 at Alaska Fairbanks * Fairbanks, Alaska 11:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 14 at Alaska Fairbanks * Fairbanks, Alaska 11:05 p.m.Fri., Feb. 20 Nebraska-Omaha * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 21 Nebraska-Omaha * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., March 5 Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., March 6 vs. Michigan * @ Detroit, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Fri., March 12 CCHA Playoffs First Round Campus Sites TBASat., March 13 CCHA Playoffs First Round Campus Sites TBASun., March 14 CCHA Playoffs First Round (if necessary) TBAThurs., March 18 CCHA Super Six Quarterfinals @ Detroit, Mich. TBAFri., March 19 CCHA Super Six Semifinals @ Detroit, Mich. TBASat., March 20 CCHA Super Six Championship @ Detroit, Mich. TBAFri.-Sat., NCAA Northeast Regional Manchester, N.H. TBA March 26-27 NCAA West Regional Colorado Springs, Colo. TBASat., Sun., NCAA East Regional Albany, N.Y. TBA March 27-28 NCAA Midwest Regional Grand Rapids, Mich. TBAThurs., April 8 NCAA Frozen Four Semifinals Boston, Mass. TBASat., April 10 NCAA Frozen Four Championship Boston, Mass. TBA
* Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) contest% College Hockey Showcase! Great Lakes Invitational; Detroit, Mich.@ at Joe Louis Arena
