Schedule News: Hockey Announces Nonconference Games for Upcoming Season

It may be June, but it’s never too early to think about hockey season. MSU announced their nonconference opponents for the upcoming season that kicks off in October.

In a throwback to the pre-Big Ten hockey era, the Spartans will kick off the regular season at home on October 7-8 against the Lakers of Lake Superior State. The former CCHA foes will play for the first time since 2018 with a two game set at Munn Ice Arena.

The next week, MSU will travel to Colorado to take on Air Force for a two game series on the road. A second road series follows a week later against Canisius for the first meeting between the Golden Griffins and the Spartans.

MSU’s road-heavy October finishes on the 26th and 27th in Boston, where they take on perennial power, and 2007 NCAA Tournament runner-up, Boston College.

As per usual, MSU will be participating in the Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids alongside Michigan Tech, Ferris State, and Alaska. The Spartans’ traditional exhibition game against the US National Development Team will take place at Munn on January 5th.

While the childhood CCHA fan in me would love to see more reunions on the schedule, seeing Lake Superior State making a trip to Munn is an unalloyed positive. While more October home games would provide a nice distraction from whatever the football team is going to be up to at that point in the season, the road series will serve as a set of lower stakes appetizers for the Big Ten schedule.

The Big Ten schedule will be released in the coming months.