June 21, 2006

Fairfield, CT - Sacred Heart men's ice hockey head coach Shaun Hannah has announced the team's 2006-07 schedule. The slate is highlighted by first time matchups with Michigan State and Wayne State. The Pioneers will also have contests with their traditional AHA rivals, including newcomers RIT and Air Force, defending champion Holy Cross and archrival Mercyhurst.

The Pioneers will start the season with an exhibition game against the University of Ottawa on October 6th at Terry Conners Rink in Stamford.

After the scrimmage, Sacred Heart will start the regular season with six straight road games. The regular season begins with a non-conference game at UMass on October 13th. The next night the Pioneers open their Atlantic Hockey schedule with a a visit to Army. The following weekend SHU will travel to Buffalo for a pair of games against Canisius.

The weekend of October 27-28 will bring a non-conference test for Sacred Heart as they travel to Michigan for games against Wayne State and Michigan State. It will be the first contest against either team for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers return to Connecticut to open their home schedule against archrival Mercyhurst November 3-4 at the Milford Ice Pavilion. The weekend of November 10-11 brings a home-and-home set against Atlantic Hockey defending champions Holy Cross. SHU will play a pair of games against UConn over Thanksgiving weekend. The Pioneers will also play a pair of Tuesday contests in November, visiting American International on November 7th, and hosting Army on the 21st.

The first weekend of December brings another a trip to Colorado Springs as the Pioneers will face Atlantic Hockey newcomer Air Force. SHU will close out the first half of their season with two home games against Bentley the following weekend.

The second half of Sacred Heart's season opens with a visit to ECACHL power Cornell followed by another trip to AIC in Springfield. The Pioneers then welcome AHA newcomers RIT to Milford for two games the weekend of January 12-13. The final non-conference game of the year for SHU comes at Dartmouth on January 20th.

The Pioneers host a pair of games against Canisius the final weekend of January and then play a home-and-home with UConn the following weekend. After a trip to Mercyhurst February 9-10, the Pioneers close out the regular season with home-and-homes against Holy Cross and Army.

Because RIT is in the second year of their transition to Division I, they will not be eligible for the AHA Tournament. Therefore, the league playoffs will consist of nine teams. The bottom two teams in the standings will play an opening round game on March 3rd, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals. The four quarterfinal games will take place on March 10th, at the home of the top four seeds. The semifinals and finals will take place March 16-17 at the BlueCross Arena in Rochester.