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The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team will play an extra game in the 2017-18 season, and that’ll provide the earliest start to a campaign in program history.

The Badgers are scheduled to open the season with an Oct. 1 non-conference game against Michigan Tech at the Kohl Center, according to university sources.

The opener will be the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game, a contest that under NCAA rules counts toward official records and statistics but is exempt from the 34-game limit.

The earliest date for official practices and games next season is Sept. 30, a Saturday. A time hasn’t been finalized for the Badgers season opener a day later, but it won’t conflict with the Green Bay Packers, who play on Thursday night that week.

It’ll be the fifth time the Badgers have played in the Hall of Fame game, which serves in part as a fundraiser for the Eveleth, Minnesota, museum celebrating American hockey history.

They skated in their first contest at the Kohl Center in the 1998 Hall of Fame outing, an Oct. 3 loss to Notre Dame that stands as the earliest game on the calendar in UW history.