After a delay to the start of the 20-21 season, UMD Men's hockey will be returning.

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) announced the tentative schedule for the 2020-21 season on Monday morning. Play for the NCHC will start in the Omaha Pod on Dec. 1, with every team playing 10 games within the Pod. The conference has been divided into two divisions for scheduling purposes, East and West. The East will consist of Miami University (MU), the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), St. Cloud State University (SCSU) and Western Michigan University (WMU). The West will consist of Colorado College (CC), Denver University (DU), the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) and the University of North Dakota (UND).

Every team will play cross-divisional foes a total of two times, for a total of eight games, with two additional games against a divisional opponent (not a teams rival/travel partner), all of which will take place within the Pod. For the duration of the pod, each team will play five different teams two times and will be designated as the home team for one of the games, and as the away team for the other game. Also in the Pod, every team will play two sets of back-to-back games (either Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday) throughout the the three week span and will have at least 24 hours between start times. After the Pod, each team will play their divisional foes six times for a total of 18 games, with 16 taking place after the pod. These divisional games will be taking place after the Pod, during a travel period which will occur from January through March.



Play will start for the University of Minnesota Duluth in the Omaha Pod on Dec. 2 against the University of Denver. The Bulldogs will play DU (Dec. 2/12), MU (Dec. 4/8), CC (Dec. 6/13), UND (Dec. 10/19) and UNO (Dec. 16/20). After the Pod has been completed, there will be a holiday break with play picking up again on January 1 (with the exception of one game (UND at UNO) on Dec. 31).

The travel portion of the schedule will consist of teams playing two games over two nights on weekends as schedules have been played in the past, with each team having two 3-game weekends taking place Thurs-Sun. UMD will kick off the new year with SCSU on the weekend of Jan. 1/2, with back to back weekends consiting of home and home series. The Bulldogs will then take to the road, heading to MU on Jan. 15/16. UMD will then host WMU in a 3-game series weekend, on Jan. 21, 22 and 24. A bye week will take place on the weekend of Jan. 29 for make ups. The following two weeks will be against MU and at WMU (3-game series), followed by a bye week. the final week will be a home and home against SCSU and a final bye week.



The NCHC Playoffs will commence following the final bye week, starting March 12 with a best of 3-game series. The NCHC Frozen Faceoff is set to take place at the Xcel Energy Center March 19-20 between the final four teams.

Further details for Bulldog Men's hockey season ticket holders will be communicated in the coming days.