2017-18 Wisconsin Men's Hockey Schedule

MADISON, Wis.— A day anticipated as soon as the 2016-17 season ended is upon us – the release of the 2017-18 Wisconsin men's hockey schedule.

The schedule features some high-quality matchups for Tony Granato and his players.

"We have a schedule filled with quality opponents that I think both our team and our fans will enjoy," Granato said. "We get North Dakota and St. Lawrence at the Kohl Center and we travel out to Boston College and back to Green Bay for games.

"This is a unique year for our schedule in that we jump right in to Big Ten play for the first since the Big Ten formed and we also add Notre Dame as a league member. I've seen early thoughts that have them highly ranked for next year. That will add to the quality of play in the Big Ten. There are great recruits all around the league that we'll get to face and watch and that will make the league very strong again."

The Badgers open practice on Saturday, Sept. 30, then open Big Ten play on Oct. 6-7 with a Kohl Center series against Ohio State. The Badgers opened Big Ten play on Dec. 9 at Michigan last season.

Building off of their successful trips out east last year to upstate New York and New York City, the Badgers will once again head east in mid-October, this time to New England to face Boston College on Oct. 13 and Merrimack the next day.

Opponents for the 2006 and 2010 NCAA championship games, UW and Boston College will see each other for the second-straight season, for the third time in four years after splitting their series at the Kohl Center last October.

This will be the first time Wisconsin will travel to North Andover, Massachusetts, to face the Warriors, and just the fourth time the schools will meet. The Badgers hold a 2-1-0 record against MC, winning 5-4 in the Badger Hockey Showdown in 2010 and splitting the series last year in November in Madison.

Wisconsin will also make their third trip to Green Bay and the Resch Center in the last four years to matchup with Northern Michigan on Oct. 20-21. Last season, the Badgers split their opening series of the year with the Wildcats, earning their first win in Green Bay since October 2006.

While those non-conference opponents will present quality matchups on the road, the Kohl Center will play host to St. Lawrence and North Dakota in Madison on back-to-back weekends in late October and early November.

The Badgers faced St. Lawrence in one game last year in Canton, New York, which UW took by a score of 5-2. UW trailed 1-0 after the first period, but after evening the score at 2-2 after two periods, a short-handed goal by Trent Frederic proved to be the game-winner.

Wisconsin and North Dakota will meet for the 169 and 170th time in the first weekend of November. The two teams will renew their storied WCHA rivalry, which dates back to December 1968. The last series between the two teams came back in November 2015 in Grand Forks, a split of 3-1 victories. The Fighting Hawks' most recent visit to Madison was in November of 2014.

The Badgers hit the road for their first conference series of the year in early November, traveling to Michigan State on Nov. 10-11, before welcoming Michigan for a Nov. 17-18 series.

Mercyhurst visits Thanksgiving weekend to close out Wisconsin's non-conference slate. The Badgers are 4-0 all-time against the Lakers, with the teams last meeting in 2011.

The Badgers visit to Minnesota follows Dec. 1-2, before Big Ten-addition Notre Dame makes its first Kohl Center appearance since January 2004 to finish up 2017.

The 2018 portion of the schedule begins with a trip to Penn State on Jan. 5-6 and follows with Michigan State's visit to the Kohl Center (Jan. 12-13) and the Badgers' first games in South Bend, Indiana, since January 2005.

A home series with Penn State (Jan. 26-27), and a trip to Michigan (Feb. 2-3) precede the Badgers' home set with border-rival Minnesota (Feb. 9-10).

Wisconsin then closes out Big Ten play like it opened it, taking on Ohio State, Feb. 23-24, in Columbus, Ohio.

Along with the new team joining the conference and a 24-game conference slate, the Big Ten playoffs will also change its format next year. Previously, the tournament had been played in a single elimination format in one weekend at a neutral site. However, the 2018 competition will be played over three weekends and all games will be played on campus sites.

The first weekend of the tournament will take place on March 2-4, with the top-seed earning a bye. The top-seed in each matchup will host a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the semi-final round on March 10. The title game will take place on March 17. Both the semi-final and championship game will be single elimination and held at the higher-seed's site.

Times for games will be announced in the coming months. Dates are subject to change.

For the full schedule of the 2017-18 Wisconsin men's hockey season, check out uwbadgers.com.

For ticket information for the 2017-18 season visit go.wisc.edu/mhkyTicketRequest.