With the full schedule available online at NMU athletics website at https://nmuwildcats.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/schedule, next season kicks off on the first weekend of October at home.

That’s when the Wildcats host National Collegiate Hockey Conference member Miami University of Miami, Ohio, on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3, the usual Friday starting time at home of 7:07 p.m. and Saturday at 6:07 p.m.

That will hold true for every Friday and Saturday night home game this season except one — after playing Bemidji State at the usual 7:07 p.m. that Friday, Jan. 8, the Saturday, Jan. 9, game is also set to begin at 7:07 p.m.

This is Northern’s 50th anniversary season, with current NMU athletic director Rick Comley having been its first and only coach for the Wildcats’ first 25 years from 1976 until 2002.

Northern Michigan University’s Caiden Gault, center, celebrates a goal with his Wildcats teammates and fans on the other side of the glass during a CCHA game played against Bemidji State at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Jan. 31. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Third-year head coach Dave Shyiak, one of the top players on Comley’s 1990-91 team that won the school’s only NCAA Division I hockey championship, will lead NMU in 18 home games of a 34-game regular-season schedule that ends with another home series vs. Lake Superior State on Feb. 26-27.

The coach is hoping for bigger and better things after the Wildcats struggled to records of 3-29-2 overall and 3-21-2 in the CCHA in 2025-26.

Every Northern game this season will be part of a two-game, Friday-Saturday series save one — the Kwik Trip Holiday Faceoff previously announced for Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 29-30, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The three other competitors in that event are Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Arizona State.

In addition to that nonconference tournament, the Wildcats open the season with three straight nonleague series before playing all CCHA conference games otherwise.

After the home series vs. Miami, NMU heads to East Lansing to take on Michigan State the weekend of Oct. 9-10. It’s possible that series may also be shifted to Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10-11, with starting times also to be announced.

After that is a home series on Oct. 16-17 against a team Northern has never faced before, the independent Stonehill College Skyhawks of Easton, Massachusetts, a Division I team only since 2022.

Following the weekend of Oct. 23-24 off, the Wildcats jump into CCHA play on Halloween weekend, Oct. 30-31, at Augustana in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

This year’s 26-game league schedule will be more balanced with the league contracting to eight teams after St. Thomas left for the NCHC in the off-season.

All teams appear on NMU’s schedule for a two-game home series and a two-game road series except one — Bemidji State, which will be in Marquette for the altered starting times on Jan. 8-9. It would’ve taken the league to offer a 28-game conference schedule to fit every opponent in for four games.

After Augustana on Boo! weekend, the Wildcats return home to host Minnesota State-Mankato on Nov. 6-7 and Bowling Green State on Nov. 13-14.

The Wildcats then travel the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nov. 20-21, to Big Rapids to face Ferris State, then take the weekend after Turkey Day off.

Resuming play for two more CCHA series in December, Northern opens with the first of two home-and-home series with Michigan Tech on Dec. 4-5, the Friday game at the Berry Events Center and Dec. 5 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton.

Then there will be Augustana coming to Marquette on Dec. 11-12 before the holiday break ends with the Kwik Trip tourney in Milwaukee on Dec. 29-30.

After about 10 days off, the Wildcats resume with the home series vs. Bemidji on Jan. 8-9, the first of five consecutive weekend series.

It’s followed by a trip to Sault Ste. Marie to face LSSU on Jan. 15-16, the second MTU home-and-home set on Jan. 22-23, the opener in Houghton and Saturday encounter back in Marquette.

Next it’s Ferris at home on Jan. 29-30, then a trip to Bowling Green, Ohio, to face the Falcons on Feb. 5-6.

After taking off the weekend of Feb. 13-14, NMU makes its spring to the finish line with a series at Mankato, Minnesota, to face the Mavericks on Feb. 19-20 before the regular season finale against LSSU on Feb. 26-27.

The CCHA Tournament best-of-3 quarterfinals at campus sits are scheduled for Friday through Sunday, March 5-7, with the single-game semifinals on March 13 and one-game championship on March 20.

Looking even further ahead, the NCAA tourney is set to run with regionals from March 25-28 in Loveland, Colorado, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Fargo, North Dakota.

The Frozen Four is April 8 and 10 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the season schedule. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.