The earliest home start in school history, a Christmas Holiday trip to Estero, Fla. for the Everblades Classic, and at least 21 games with teams from last year's NCAA playoff field highlight the 2005-06 University of Minnesota-Duluth men's hockey schedule.



The Bulldogs will officially launch their 62nd year of competition by hosting intrastate rival Bemidji State University, a 2005 NCAA post season participant and the reigning College Hockey America regular season and playoff champion, in a pair of non-conference engagements on Oct. 7-8. Two weekends later, the Bulldogs are scheduled to hit the road for a two-game set at the University of Vermont before heading to Michigan Tech University on Oct. 28-29 for their 2005-06 Western Collegiate Hockey Association debuts. The 2005-06 season marks UMD's 40th anniversary as a member of that prestigious circuit.



As part of their 36-game regular season schedule, the Bulldogs will square off with two-time NCAA I champion University of Denver (Dec. 16-17 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center) along with three other 2005 NCAA Frozen Four qualifiers -- Colorado College (Dec. 9-10 in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Feb. 24-25 at the DECC), the University of North Dakota (Nov. 11-12 in Duluth and Feb. 17-18 in Grand Forks, N.D.), and the University of Minnesota (Nov. 4-5 at the DECC and March 3-4 in Minneapolis). UMD and the University of Maine, which made it to the NCAA playoff quarterfinals this past March, are paired against each other in the first round of the Everblades Classic (Dec. 28-29). That sixth annual event also includes Cornell University, another NCAA tournament participant, and Northeastern University. The Bulldogs and Maine last hooked horns on Jan. 7, 1989.



In addition, the 2005-06 UMD schedule features a first-ever exhibition home game on Jan. 7 with the United States National Under 18 Team, based out of Ann Arbor, Mich.



\"From start to finish, I think we are looking at an awfully competitive schedule,\" said head coach Scott Sandelin, who will be embarking on his sixth season behind the Bulldog bench this fall. \"With such a young team, it will be nice to start the year at home, but with Bemidji State in town, we'll have our hands full. I think the second half of our regular season schedule, especially the last four weeks when we face Wisconsin, North Dakota and Colorado College and Minnesota, will really be a grind.



\"I'm certainly looking forward to the tournament in Florida because we'll have the opportunity to play some of the best teams Hockey East and the ECAC has to offer.\"



Sandelin and the Bulldogs compiled a 15-17-6 overall record in 2004-05 and wound up placing sixth in the final WCHA standings with a 11-13-4 mark.