OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha Athletics announced its 2016-17 hockey schedule today, the 20th in school history.  The schedule was released today in conjunction with the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's full slate of conference games for the upcoming season.

“It's remarkable to think that this is already the 20th season of Maverick hockey,” said associate athletic director Mike Kemp who built the first team in school history and was its head coach for the first 12 seasons.  “Again this year, we think we've put together a very challenging non-conference schedule to complement an always-tough NCHC slate of games.”

The Mavericks will open the season with an exhibition game against a Canadian college on Oct. 8 and begin the NCAA schedule the following week when they travel to Fairbanks, Alaska for the Brice Alaska Goal Rush.  UNO will face both host Alaska and Alaska Anchorage of the WCHA on Oct. 14-15.

Omaha returns home the following weekend to host Vermont of Hockey East on Oct. 21-22.  It will be first time the Catamounts have visited Omaha.  The two schools played each other for the first time last season in Vermont.

The Mavericks' other non-conference games include two-game home series with UMass Lowell of Hockey East on Oct. 28-29 and Lake Superior State of the WCHA on Dec. 30-31; and road series at Northern Michigan of the WCHA on Nov. 25-26 and Wisconsin of the Big Ten on Dec. 2-3.

UNO opens its NCHC schedule when it hosts Colorado College at Baxter Arena on Nov. 4-5.  The Mavericks' first conference road series will be the following weekend at Miami on Nov. 11-12.

The Mavericks' other home NCHC series include Minnesota Duluth (Nov. 18-19), 2016 NCAA Champion North Dakota (Jan. 6-7), Miami (Jan. 20-21), Western Michigan (Feb. 10-11) and Denver (March 3-4).  

UNO's other NCHC road series are at St. Cloud State (Dec. 9-10), Colorado College (Jan. 13-14), Denver (Jan. 27-28), Minnesota Duluth (Feb. 3-4) and North Dakota (Feb. 24-25).

Due to the NCHC's scheduling metric, the Mavericks will not host St. Cloud State and will not travel to Western Michigan this season.

All games at Baxter Arena will begin at 7:07 p.m. CT with the exception of the Dec. 31 game against Lake Superior State which will begin at 4:07 p.m.

Maverick hockey season ticket members will receive ticket renewal information by May 1. New season tickets will go on sale to the general public in July with single-game ticket sales slated for mid-August.