2014-15 OUA men's hockey season kicks off October 1

HAMILTON - The return of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s hockey is set for October 1st, 2014 as the league announced it'€™s 2014-15 schedule on Monday.

The puck will drop with one game on October 1st, where the 2014 Queen'€™s Cup champion Windsor Lancers will open up their title defence as they host the Guelph Gryphons. The Lancers who finished with an impressive 7-1 OUA playoff record took home their first Queen'€™s Cup in 16 seasons defeating the McGill Redmen 3-2 in the 103rd Queen'€™s Cup Final.  

The Lancers do not meet the Redmen during the 2014-15 regular season campaign but will see their 2014 West Division final foe in the Lakehead Thunderwolves. That battle sees Windsor visit Lakehead on October 24-25 for a two game set in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Other regular season highlights include:

• The Brantford Civic Centre will play host to an OUA matchup between the Ryerson Rams and Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday, November 8th - The Golden Hawks have a satellite campus in Brantford, Ont.
• The Carleton Ravens will visit McGill in an East Division final rematch on November 29th.  The Redmen captured the series 2 games to 1 advancing to the Queen’s Cup last season.
• This year'€™s Annual Frosty Mug Game is set for Friday, January 16h at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ont.  It will see the Brock Badgers battle the Guelph Gryphons.
• The Toronto Varsity Blues will host a special School Day Game for elementary students kicking off at 11:00am on January 27th when they face off against the Ryerson Rams.
• The oldest hockey rivalry in the world will be renewed during the Carr Harris Cup set for Thursday, February 5th as the Queen’s Gaels meet the Royal Military College Paladins. The rivalry between the two Kingston squads has been going since 1886; in last year’s Carr Harris Cup game, the Paladins won for the first time since 2007.
• The annual Corey Cup, will see McGill take on the Concordia Stingers at Concordia on Friday, February 6th in a challenge game for Montreal hockey supremacy,  The Redmen won last year’s game and improved to a 15-7-3 lifetime record while the Stingers hold a 8-16-3 in the annual showdown including a 1-1 record against UQTR.

The OUA men'€™s regular season will conclude on February 8th with Ottawa meeting Concordia in Montreal while the Nipissing Lakers will visit Laurentian Voyageurs in Sudbury, Ont.

Playoffs will commence beginning February 11th with the top eight teams in each division advancing to the post-season.  The first three rounds of the playoffs will go from February 11 to March 1st with each round consisting of a best of three series.  

The 104th Queen'€™s Cup presented by ArcelorMittal Dofasco will be played on March 7th, 2015 in a one game battle and hosted by the remaining team with the best record.

Read the full season schedule here.

The 2014-2015 women’s hockey schedule will be released tomorrow, on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Note: Although uOttawa has been included in the development of this schedule, the program remains suspended pending an internal review into allegations of misconduct involving some players on the team. At this time, the status of the uOttawa men's hockey team for the 2014-15 season is not confirmed.