The University of Maine announced their 2024-25 men’s ice hockey schedule on Friday. The schedule consists of 34 regular season games (19 home contests at the Alfond Arena), with 24 of those 34 being conference games. One of the upcoming season highlights is hosting the defending national champions for a two game series, while the team also makes a return for a single game at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
Maine is coming off a strong season where they went 23-12-2 overall and 14-9-1 in Hockey East. The Black Bears made their first appearance in 12 years in both the Hockey East semifinals and NCAA Tournament, eventually falling 3-1 Cornell in an NCAA First Round game in Springfield, Massachusetts back on March 28. The 2024-25 team begins the regular season at home on October 5 against American International College. After an exhibition game with Army at the Alfond on October 12, and a home series vs Quinnipiac the following weekend, they play their conference openers on 10/25 and 10/26 at Northeastern. The home Hockey East openers are on 11/1 and 11/2 against Merrimack. Other home highlighted league games include a series with Boston University and UNH. A very much anticipated series against the reigning national champion Denver Pioneers happens on 1/3 and 1/4 in Orono. Below is the full schedule:
Sat. 10/5 vs American International
Sat. 10/12 vs Army (exhibition)
Fri. 10/18 vs Quinnipiac
Sat. 10/19 vs Quinnipiac
Fri. 10/25 at Northeastern*
Sat. 10/26 at Northeastern*
Fri. 11/1 vs Merrimack*
Sat. 11/2 vs Merrimack*
Fri. 11/8 at Boston College*
Sat. 11/9 at Boston College*
Fri. 11/15 vs Boston University*
Sat. 11/16 vs Boston University*
Fri. 11/22 at UNH*
Sat. 11/30 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Sun. 12/1 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Sat. 12/7 vs Stonehill
Sun. 12/8 vs Stonehill
Sun. 12/29 vs Bentley- in Portland at Cross Insurance Arena
Fri. 1/3 vs Denver
Sat. 1/4 vs Denver
Fri. 1/10 at UMass-Lowell*
Sat. 1/11 at UMass-Lowell*
Fri. 1/17 vs UConn*
Sat. 1/18 vs UConn*
Fri. 1/31 vs Northeastern*
Sun. 2/2 vs UMass (Amherst)*
Fri. 2/7 at Providence*
Sat. 2/8 at Providence*
Fri. 2/14 vs UNH*
Sat. 2/15 vs UNH*
Sat. 2/22 at UConn*
Fri. 2/28 vs Vermont
Sat. 3/1 vs Vermont
Fri. 3/7 at UMass (Amherst)*
Sat. 3/8 at UMass (Amherst)*
*- denotes Hockey East games
Josh Nadeau tries to play a loose puck during a game against Providence College on 2/10/24 at Alfond Arena in Orono. Photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
