Michigan State University Athletics
Spartan Hockey Releases 2004-05 Schedule
6/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
June 11, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
2004-05 MSU Hockey Schedule in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Michigan State head coach Rick Comley has announced the 2004-05 Spartan hockey schedule Friday (June 11). The 36-game regular-season schedule features 19 games at Munn Ice Arena, as the Spartans will entertain foes from the ECAC, Hockey East and CCHA and seven teams that made the 2004 NCAA Tournament.
"The schedule has good balance this season," said Comley. "We have some new opponents coming into Munn Arena as New Hampshire and Cornell will be coming to East Lansing, and both teams have been nationally ranked the last few years."
"We have a good mix of home and away events. I believe it is very important for the team to be on the road in the first half of the year."
The Spartans open up their 64th year of varsity hockey with the annual Green and White game on Friday, Oct. 8, which will give MSU fans a first glimpse of the squad. State tunes up for the season opener with an exhibition contest against Toronto on Sunday, Oct. 10, at 2:05 p.m.
The opening weekend of play features ECAC-foe St. Lawrence on Friday, Oct. 15, at 7:35 p.m., and Hockey East-member New Hampshire on Sunday, Oct. 17, at 2:05 p.m. Friday's season opener against St. Lawrence marks the first meeting between the schools since Nov. 30, 1968. New Hampshire, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year, will face the Spartans for the first time since the Wildcats beat the Spartans, 5-3 in the 1999 Frozen Four in Anaheim, Calif.
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 Bowling Green and Notre Dame this season.
"The CCHA will be very competitive from top-to-bottom," remarked Comley. "It is going to make for a very interesting league race."
The CCHA slate kicks off the weekend of Oct. 22-23 when State travels to Marquette, Mich., for a pair of games with Northern Michigan. Nebraska-Omaha arrives in East Lansing the following weekend (Oct. 29-30) for a two-game set before the Spartans meet Ferris State in a home-and-home series Nov. 5-6.
The Spartans will meet Cornell in a two-game non-conference in another Friday and Sunday series, Nov. 12 and 14. The two-game set will mark the fourth and fifth meetings between the schools and the first since Nov. 3, 1995 when State beat the Big Red, 6-2 at Munn.
Defending CCHA champion Michigan arrives in East Lansing on Thursday, Nov. 18 for a 7:05 p.m. showdown with the Spartans. State makes the return trip to Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 20. The Spartans captured the 2003-04 season series from the Wolverines, posting a 2-1-1 record including two shutouts (2-0 in East Lansing on Dec. 6 and 1-0 at Joe Louis Arena on March 6).
The 12th annual College Hockey Showcase moves to Madison, Wis., and Minneapolis, Minn., Thanksgiving weekend. MSU, which has compiled a 12-8-2 mark in Showcase action, meets Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 26. Wisconsin advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2001 season last year. MSU heads to Minnesota on Saturday, Nov. 27 for a showdown with the Gophers.
State closes out the first-half schedule with two home-and-home sets. MSU meets Bowling Green in East Lansing Dec. 3, before heading to BGSU on Dec. 4. On Dec. 10, the Spartans travel to Notre Dame, which made it's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004, before the teams return to East Lansing on Dec. 11.
Following an 18-day holiday break, MSU returns to action Dec. 29-30 at the 40th 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: New Hampshire, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Michigan. Michigan Tech and U-M will meet Dec. 29, at 4:05 p.m., in game one, while MSU and New Hampshire will square off in game two at 7:35 p.m. The third-place game is set for 4:05 p.m., while the title contest faces-off at 7:35 p.m. on Dec. 30.
The Spartans kick-off the second half of the conference schedule with three of four games on the road. State opens with a pair at Miami (Jan. 7-8) before meeting Western Michigan in a home-and-home set (Jan. 14-15).
Lake Superior State arrives in East Lansing Jan. 21-22 for a two-game set. State faces the U.S. National Team program in an exhibition contest on Friday, Jan. 28, at Munn. State travels to in-state rival Michigan on Friday, Feb. 4, before the teams head to Detroit, Mich., and Joe Louis Arena for a 7:35 p.m. match-up on Saturday, Feb. 5.
MSU makes the almost 4,000-mile journey to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a second straight season Feb. 11-12, before returning to Munn Ice Arena to meet 2004 NCAA Tournament participant Ohio State (Feb. 18-19).
The stretch run features two home-and-home sets with MSU's cluster. MSU and Bowling Green meet in Ohio Feb. 25, before returning to East Lansing Feb. 26. State will hold Senior Night on Friday, March 4 when Notre Dame comes to town, before the teams end the regular season in Notre Dame on March 5.
All 12 teams qualify for the CCHA Tournament for the fourth-straight season. The first round, a best-of-three games series, will take place at six campus sites March 11-13, with the six winners advancing to the CCHA Super Six Championship at Joe Louis Arena (March 17-19). 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 17. The semifinals will take place on Friday, March 18, followed by the championship game on Saturday, March 19. 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 25-26, with Western Michigan hosting the Midwest Regional at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Boston University putting on the East Regional at Worcester's Centrum Centre in Worcester, Mass. On March 26-27, UMass will host the Northeast Regional at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., while the University of Minnesota picks up the West Regional at Mariucci Arena.
The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four, which is hosted by Ohio State University, will be held at the Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, April 7-9.
Season ticket renewal forms will be mailed in mid-August. Ticket information also will be available online at msuspartans.com or if you have questions, please contact the MSU Ticket Office at 517.355.1610 or 1-800-GO-STATE beginning in mid August.
2004-05 Michigan State Hockey Schedule
Date Opponent Site Time (ET)Fri., Oct. 8 Green and White (EX) East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sun., Oct. 10 Toronto (EX) East Lansing, Mich. 2:05 p.m.Fri., Oct. 15 St. Lawrence East Lansing, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Sun., Oct. 17 New Hampshire East Lansing, Mich. 2:05 p.m.Fri., Oct. 22 at Northern Michigan * Marquette, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Sat., Oct. 23 at Northern Michigan * Marquette, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Fri., Oct. 29 Nebraska-Omaha * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Oct. 30 Nebraska-Omaha * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Nov. 5 Ferris State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 6 at Ferris State * Big Rapids, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Nov. 12 Cornell East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sun., Nov. 14 Cornell East Lansing, Mich. 1:05 p.m.Thurs., Nov. 18 Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 20 at Michigan * Ann Arbor, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Fri., Nov. 26 at Wisconsin % Madison, Wis. 8:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 27 at Minnesota % Minneapolis, Minn. 8:05 p.m.Fri., Dec. 3 Bowling Green * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Dec. 4 at Bowling Green * Bowling Green, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Fri., Dec. 10 at Notre Dame * Notre Dame, Ind. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Dec. 11 Notre Dame * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Wed., Dec. 29 vs. New Hampshire ! Detroit, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Thurs., Dec. 30 vs. Michigan/Michigan Tech ! Detroit, Mich. 4:05/7:35 p.m.Fri., Jan. 7 at Miami * Oxford, Ohio 7:35 p.m.Sat., Jan. 8 at Miami * Oxford, Ohio 7:35 p.m.Fri., Jan. 14 at Western Michigan * Kalamazoo, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Sat., Jan. 15 Western Michigan * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 21 Lake Superior State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 22 Lake Superior State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 28 USA National Team (EX) East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Feb. 4 at Michigan * Ann Arbor, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Sat., Feb. 5 vs. Michigan * @ Detroit, Mich. 7:35 p.m.Fri., Feb. 11 at Alaska Fairbanks * Fairbanks, Alaska 11:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 12 at Alaska Fairbanks * Fairbanks, Alaska 11:05 p.m.Fri., Feb. 18 Ohio State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 19 Ohio State * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Feb. 25 at Bowling Green * Bowling Green, Ohio 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 26 Bowling Green * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Fri., March 4 Notre Dame * East Lansing, Mich. 7:05 p.m.Sat., March 5 at Notre Dame * Notre Dame, Ind. 7:05 p.m.March 11-13 CCHA First Round Playoffs (Campus Sites)March 17-19 CCHA Championships (Joe Louis Arena)March 25-26 NCAA East Regional (Worcester, Mass.)March 25-26 NCAA Midwest Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.)March 26-27 NCAA Northeast Regional (Amherst, Mass.)March 26-27 NCAA West Regional (Minneapolis, Minn.)April 7-9 NCAA Frozen Four (Value City Arena - Columbus, Ohio)
* Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) contest% College Hockey Showcase! Great Lakes Invitational; Detroit, Mich.@ at Joe Louis Arena
Subject schedule to change (updated 6.9.04)
