Over one month after the Western Collegiate Hockey Assocation (WCHA) announced a delay to the start of the season, NMU Hockey’s 2020-21 season will happen and its schedule has been released.

This year’s campaign will be abbreviated with the season starting nearly a month later than usual, and the Wildcats will play 27 games total with 18 regular season conference games against conference opponents, but nine are considered non-conference games instead of the typical 34 total regular season games with 28 conference games. 

NMU starts the season at home against Lake Superior State (LSSU) on Wednesday, Nov. 25, but in a non-conference match-up. The Wildcats then play Michigan Tech (MTU) in a non-conference series on Friday, Nov. 27 and Saturday, Nov. 28 in the first two of six meetings in an odd scheduling quirk.

The ‘Cats officially begin WCHA conference play on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at LSSU, and end 2020 with three straight non-conference series at home against Bemidji State (BSU), at Minnesota State-Mankato (MSU) and a home-and-home with MTU.

Northern starts off the new year with all remaining games being conference games. The race begins with big proportions when it welcomes in MSU on Friday, Jan. 1 and Saturday, Jan. 2 before spending the next two weeks traveling to Alaska-Fairbanks and hosting Alaska-Anchorage. The Wildcats then hit the road for five of its next games between late January and early February including away series with Alabama-Huntsville and BSU, and one game in Sault Ste. Marie against LSSU. In between, Ferris State comes to town on Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30.

The Wildcats wrap up the season with three out of its final four games at home, hosting Bowling Green on Friday, Feb. 19 and Saturday, Feb. 20, and traveling to Houghton to take on MTU on Friday, Feb. 26 and returning to the Berry Events Center against the Huskies on Saturday, Feb. 27.