Greetings, all. We hope your summer went well and that you’re as excited for the new college hockey season as we are here at USCHO.
My writing partner Candace Horgan and I are getting ready to help guide you through the NCHC’s third season. All but one of the conference’s eight teams kick off their new campaigns this weekend in exhibition action.
It all gets started on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET when No. 11 Miami hosts Western Ontario. Three hours after that begins, Western Michigan faces Lethbridge in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Attention then shifts westward as fourth-ranked North Dakota hosts Manitoba and No. 17 St. Cloud State takes on Alberta. The night’s late start (7 p.m. MT) will involve Colorado College hosting the University of Calgary.
Calgary will then make a short trip to take on No. 5 Denver on Sunday evening at DU’s Magness Arena. Meanwhile, second-ranked Minnesota-Duluth will host Lakehead.
No. 10 Omaha is the only NCHC team that will not open its 2015-16 season against Canadian opposition. Instead, UNO opens next Friday with the first game of a key early non-conference series at sixth-ranked Minnesota State.
Check back on Monday to read USCHO’s NCHC season preview. Candace and I will look at each of the league’s teams and also share with you what we think will happen in the season ahead.
Happy hockey, everyone. It’s good to be back.
