2012-13 Men’s Hockey Schedule Released

The 2012-13 men’s hockey schedule was released on Wednesday. It will be their final season as a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

36 games, including 19 regular-season home contests are on the slate for the upcoming campaign. One-third of the games will be against teams who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.

The first day of sanctioned practice is on October 6. The Badgers will open up with an exhibition game against the U.S. U-18 team later that evening at the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin will play its first four regular season games on the road including a two-game series against Northern Michigan at the Resch Center in Green bay October 12-13.

The first home series of the year will take place November 2-3 when Colorado College comes to town. Wisconsin will also dedicate the rink to former Badgers head coach Bob Johnson. Johnson led the Badgers from 1966-81 during that time his teams appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments and claimed three National Championships.

Returning WCHA Champions Minnesota will make their only visit to the Kohl Center Friday, February 15. The back end of that two-game set is likely going to be played at Soldier Field in Chicago on February 17.

Rival North Dakota will not be coming to Madison this year. The two teams will meet for their only series of the season on February 1-2 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

As mentioned on Tuesday, high school state championship action will play havoc on the home portion of the schedule late in the season. The series with Penn State on February 24-25 will be a Sunday-Monday affair due to the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Championships. The next scheduled home series, against St. Cloud State, March 8-9 will be held at the Alliant Energy Center due to a scheduling conflict with the WIAA Boys State High School Basketball Championships.

Future years will cotinue to bring stiff competition. According to a press release from UW Sports Information, “Scheduling agreements with Boston College, Boston University, Colorado College, Denver, Miami, North Dakota and Northern Michigan are either signed or in negotiations. Additional teams will also be scheduled.”