CCHA Announces 2010-11 Schedule
July 15, 2010 02:59 PM
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — The Central Collegiate Hockey Association today announced the schedule for its 40th season of play which consists of 154 conference games.
For the 2010-11 season, Ferris State and Alaska join Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State to form a five-team group. These schools play two games against all 10 CCHA schools (20 games) and two additional games against the teams in their own group (eight games).
Northern Michigan/Miami, Bowling Green/Western Michigan and Lake Superior State/Notre Dame comprise a six-team group. These teams will play two games against all ten teams (20 games) and two additional games against the remaining teams in their own group (8 games) except the team that they are 'partnered' with.
Michigan will be the first CCHA team to take the ice in non-conference play with an Oct. 2 game against Mercyhurst at Yost Ice Arena. The next weekend the Wolverines will take part in the first conference series of the season with a pair of games at Bowling Green, Oct. 8-9. The games will be Chris Bergeron’s first as head coach of the Falcons.
Alaska will open its season in the Kendall Auto Hockey Classic at Anchorage Oct 8-9, playing North Dakota the first night and Air Force the next night. Notre Dame opens its season in a tournament as well, participating in the Ice Breaker in St. Louis. The Fighting Irish play Holy Cross Oct. 8 in their first game, then either Boston University or Wisconsin on Oct. 10.
Alaska hosts the Brice Alaska Goal Rush Oct. 15-16. The Nanooks will play Union in the first game and Colorado College in the second.
All 11 schools will have played at least one conference series by Oct. 30. Part of the conference slate in the first half of the season is The Big Chill at the Big House presented by Arby’s, where Michigan and Michigan State will do battle in Michigan Stadium in front of an anticipated world-record crowd.
Seven of the league’s 11 teams will be involved in tournaments over the holidays during a span from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2. Michigan and Michigan State will participate in the 46th Great Lakes Invitational Dec. 29-30 along with Michigan Tech and Colorado College; Bowling Green will compete in the UConn Classic Dec. 29-30 with Princeton, Holy Cross and Connecticut; Miami travels to Florida for the Everblades College Classic Dec. 29-30 along with Maine, Cornell, and St. Cloud State; Ferris State will take part in the Dodge Holiday Classic Dec. 31 – Jan. 1 where the Bulldogs will play host Minnesota and Bemidji State; Notre Dame hosts Minnesota State, Boston University and Brown in the Shillelagh Tournament at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill., Jan 1-2; Ohio State will play host Vermont and Army in the Catamount Cup Jan. 1-2.
The CCHA playoff format features two rounds of action at campus sites. The CCHA Tournament will commence with the first round during the weekend of March 4-6 when the teams placing 6-7-8 during the regular season play host to the squads finishing 11-10-9, respectively. The second round of the postseason, or quarterfinals, takes place March 11-13, with the top three regular-season finishers hosting the first-round winners and the fourth seed hosting the fifth seed. Four teams will converge on Joe Louis Arena for the 30th annual CCHA Championship on March 18-19.
The NCAA Regionals are scheduled for March 25-27 with the CCHA serving as host for the West Regional in St. Louis. The season will come to an end with the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four April 7-9 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Other schedule highlights include:
Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan will host Michigan Tech and Minnesota-Duluth for the fourth annual Superior Cup series Oct. 8-9.
New Ohio State head coach Mark Osiecki will make his Buckeye debut in a series at Quinnipiac, Oct. 8-9. The first series behind the bench for Western Michigan’s new head coach, Jeff Blashill, will be at Mercyhurst Oct 15-16.
2009-10 CCHA regular-season champion Miami faces two teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season in early-season affairs by hosting New Hampshire Oct. 8-9 and traveling to St. Cloud State Oct. 15-16.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, Michigan and Michigan State will travel to Minnesota and Wisconsin in the College Hockey Showcase, Bowling Green will participate in the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament with Alabama-Huntsville, Connecticut and Rensselaer, and Lake Superior will play Denver and Clarkson in the Denver Cup.
A full composite schedule accompanies this release. All dates and times are subject to change.
2010-11 COMPOSITE SCHEDULE