The first-ever visit to Burlington from the Michigan Wolverines, home series with Hockey East rivals Maine, Boston University, and New Hampshire, and a trip to Northern Ireland for the Friendship Four Tournament highlight the 2016-17 Vermont men's hockey schedule. Head coachannounced the schedule on Friday."As our team returns to campus for summer school and training, it's the perfect time to release our schedule and begin to talk about the upcoming season," said Sneddon. "There is much to look forward to as we have put together another challenging slate of games to go along with some unique opportunities for our student-athletes."Prior to the season, fans have an opportunity to attend a once-in-a-lifetime event when Martin St. Louis, Eric Perrin, and the 1996 NCAA Frozen Four team face a group of prominent UVM alumni in "Vermont's Greatest Ever Pick-up Game". Puck drop is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6 at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Tickets are available for just $5 online ator in person at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office in Patrick Gym.The 2016-17 Catamounts will host Concordia for their lone exhibition game at Gutterson on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:05 p.m. The regular season begins the following weekend with a home-and-home series against former ECAC rival Clarkson. UVM hosts the Golden Knights for its home opener on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:05 p.m.Vermont is idle for the weekend of Oct. 14-15 before traveling to the Midwest to face 2015 Frozen Four participant Nebraska Omaha at the Mavericks' brand new Baxter Arena on Oct. 21-22. The Catamounts return to Burlington to take on Michigan from the Big Ten for the first time in their history on Friday, Oct. 28 at the Gut.The Hockey East slate kicks off with four straight road games against Northeastern (Oct. 30), UMass Lowell (Nov. 4-5), and UMass Amherst (Nov. 12). Former ECAC rival Dartmouth visits Gutterson on Tuesday, Nov. 15 before a two-game league series with Maine on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m.Over Thanksgiving week, the Catamounts will fly to Belfast, Northern Ireland to participate in the Friendship Four. UVM faces UMass Amherst in a league contest on Friday, Nov. 25 before playing either St. Lawrence or Quinnipiac from the ECAC on Saturday, Nov. 26. The schools will be competing for the Belpot Trophy, won by UMass Lowell last year in the event's inaugural season. Ticket and travel information will be available at a later date.Vermont takes a week off after the Belfast trip to prepare for a visit from the BU Terriers on Dec. 9-10 in Hockey East action. The non-league schedule winds down around the holidays as Union comes to town for a two-game set on Dec. 17-18. In place of the Catamount Cup, UVM and Bentley match up for a New Year's series on Dec. 30-31 with the New Year's Eve contest set for 3 p.m. St. Lawrence travels from Canton to Burlington on Tuesday, Jan. 3 to close the non-league schedule."Our non-conference schedule features a trip to Nebraska Omaha to play in their new facility, and we then welcome to Gutterson for the first time in program history Red Berenson's Michigan Wolverines. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this schedule is participating in the Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast. This will be a great experience for our student-athletes and staff. This non-conference schedule blends well with our Hockey East games. As we all know, every night in Hockey East feels like a playoff game. Our conference will be one of the tops in college hockey once again and we look forward to competing for a championship this season."Hockey East play resumes on the first weekend of 2017 as Vermont finishes its season series with Northeastern on Saturday, Jan. 7 at Gutterson. After a road trip to 2015 national champion Providence for a two-game series on Jan. 13-14, the Catamounts play one game against UConn each of the following two Friday nights on Jan. 20 at home and Jan. 27 at the XL Center in Hartford.The final month of the regular season features trips to Notre Dame (Feb. 3-4) and Boston College (Feb. 17-18), both of which made last year's NCAA Tournament. UVM renews its league rivalry with New Hampshire in Burlington on Feb. 10-11, and Merrimack will be the Cats' opponent on 2017 Senior Weekend at Gutterson on Feb. 24-25.The Catamounts return 82-percent of their scoring for the upcoming season, including five of their top six goal scorers. Senior forwardsandwill serve as co-captains of this year's squad after leading the team with 48 points combined last year. Vermont came within one goal of its second straight trip to the Hockey East Championship at TD Garden during the 2015-16 campaign.