Penn State Hockey released its 2015-16 schedule Tuesday morning, and in its third year in Pegula Ice Arena and the Big Ten Hockey Conference, the program’s schedule features more big names than ever before. The Nittany Lions are slated for 17 games against non-conference opponents and 20 against Big Ten rivals, and will also begin a four-year series against Notre Dame. Pegula will play host to the Fighting Irish this season and Penn State will be on the road next season. The schedule also features six teams (Minnesota, Michigan, Vermont, Robert Morris, St. Lawrence, Michigan State) who received votes in last season’s final USCHO poll. The Nittany Lions will play in NHL arenas in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, and St. Paul.

Penn State will play its first-ever non-regular season game on Oct. 4, a matchup with the University of Windsor dubbed “The International Game.” The regular season gets underway the next weekend as Penn State travels to Canisius for the two programs’ first-ever meeting in Division-1 play. Penn State’s home-opener is the following weekend, as it takes on Notre Dame on Oct. 16 and 17. The homestand continues for two more weekends as the Nittany Lions will host AIC and St. Lawrence before traveling to Niagara on Nov. 6.

After taking on Sacred Heart in the second weekend of November, the Nittany Lions will travel to Alaska for the second season in a row. Penn State will look to avenge last-year’s third-place finish at the Brice Alaska Goal Rush with a two-game series against Alaska Anchorage on Nov. 20 and 21.

For the third-straight year, Penn State and Vermont will faceoff in the Flyers’ Wells Fargo Center at the end of November. The first Big Ten matchup of the year is the following weekend as Penn State hosts the Michigan State Spartans. On Dec. 11, Princeton, formerly coached by Penn State’s Guy Gadowsky, will travel to Penn State for a one-game series. At the end of December, Penn State will once again participate in the Three Rivers Classic. Hosted at the Penguins’ CONSOL Energy Center, Penn State will first play Robert Morris on Dec. 29 then an undecided opponent the next night.

The Nittany Lions will ring in the New Year with the remainder of the Big Ten schedule, as they will host Minnesota and Wisconsin in the first two weekends of January, then travel to Ohio State the next. Michigan will head to Penn State on Jan. 28, then the two teams will rematch at Madison Square Garden on the 30th. Four of the final five series of the season will be on the road, as Penn State will head to Minnesota and Michigan State, host Ohio State, then hit the road again to Wisconsin and Michigan. The Nittany Lions and Wolverines conclude the regular season on March 11 and 12.

The Big Ten Tournament, played at the Minnesota Wild’s Xcel Energy Center, will run from March 17-19, and if the Lions make the NCAA Tournament, they will play again the weekend after that.

The full schedule can be found here. 131 days until puck drop!