Aug. 28, 2008

Farmington Hills, Mich. -

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Central Collegiate Hockey Association today announced the schedule for its 38th season of play which consists of 168 conference games and the introduction of a three-player shootout to settle ties in regular-season contests.

The CCHA uses clusters, consisting of three groups of four teams, for scheduling. The teams that make up each cluster will face each other four times (twice at home and twice on the road). Each team will face the eight squads outside its cluster twice. The 2008-09 clusters are as follows:

Bowling Green, Notre Dame, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan

Miami, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State

Alaska, Nebraska-Omaha, Ferris State and Western Michigan

Conference action begins October 10th when Miami travels to clustermate Ohio State. Eight other teams start regular-season play the same day including the defending Mason Cup champion Michigan Wolverines who will open at home against St. Lawrence of the ECAC.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will begin their season by traveling back to Denver for the first time since the NCAA national championship game against Boston College. The Irish and Denver Pioneers will face off in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game Saturday, October 11.

Conference action gets into full swing October 31 as all 12 league teams face a league opponent; Nebraska-Omaha at Bowling Green, Lake Superior State traveling to Ferris State, Western Michigan skating at Michigan State, Alaska in Miami, Notre Dame visiting Northern Michigan and Michigan playing host to Ohio State.

Eight of the league's 12 teams will be involved in tournaments over the Christmas holidays during a span from Dec. 27 to Jan. 3 this season. Michigan and Michigan State will participate in the 44th Great Lakes Invitational along with Michigan Tech and North Dakota; Lake Superior State heads to Wisconsin along with Harvard and Alabama-Huntsville for the Badger Classic; host Ohio State is joined by Miami, Clarkson and Army in the fifth annual Ohio Hockey Classic; Ferris State battles St. Lawrence in the opening round of the Catamount Cup that also has host Vermont and Colgate in the field; Notre Dame hosts Union, UMass Lowell and Minnesota-Duluth in the Shillelagh Tournament at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill., while Western Michigan begins the New Year at the Mariucci Classic featuring host Minnesota, Brown and Northeastern.

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 6-8 when the teams placing 5-6-7-8 during the regular season play host to the squads finishing 12-11-10-9, respectively. The second round of the postseason, or quarterfinals, takes place March 13-15, with the top four regular-season finishers hosting the first round winners. Four teams will converge on Joe Louis Arena for the 28th annual CCHA Championship on March 20-21.

The NCAA Regionals are scheduled for March 27-29 with the CCHA serving as host for the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich. The season will conclude at Washington D.C.'s Verizon Center April 9 and 11 with the Frozen Four.

Other schedule highlights include:

A rematch of the 2008 NCAA championship game takes place on Nov. 7 when Notre Dame visits Boston College.

Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan will host Michigan Tech and Minnesota-Duluth for the second annual Superior Cup series October 10-11. The Michigan State Spartans battle Massachusetts and Boston University that same weekend at the Ice Breaker Tournament in Boston.

Alaska welcoming Maine of HEA and Mercyhurst of AHA to the Last Frontier for the first annual Brice Alaska Goal Rush on Oct. 17-18.

Ohio State play Robert Morris of the CHA at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena on Nov. 14 with a rematch set for Dec. 6 in Cleveland.

Nebraska-Omaha will host the Mutual of Omaha Stampede on October 17-18. The Mavericks will welcome American International, Quinnipiac and Union to Nebraska for the tournament.

Michigan and Michigan State will travel to Minnesota and Wisconsin for the College Hockey Showcase. Games are scheduled November 28-29.

The annual rivalry game between Michigan State and Michigan at Joe Louis Arena is set for Friday, January 23.

A full composite schedule accompanies this release. All dates and times are subject to change.