The fun begins October 9th!
With a free day between the opening of the 2024-25 new league year and the start of Colorado Avalanche development camp the NHL decided to release the regular season schedule for the upcoming season. This usually happens before the draft but the NHL had a lot going on last week.
The preseason schedule was announced last week which features a pair of games for Colorado against the new Utah Hockey Club. Their first regular season meeting between the clubs won’t be until October 24th in Utah.
Circle the calendars for both the season opener and home opener. Starting the season in Vegas on Wednesday, October 9th will surely have that game on national television with that electric matchup. Then the Avalanche will be back at Ball Arena for their home opener against Columbus on Saturday, October 12th, which also begins a four-game homestand. Patrick Roy and the New York Islanders will come to town on October 14th, so some early intrigue for those matches.
Road trips are always of note and there is a four-game trip in November and a five-game in December to knock out a lot of the east coast road games. There is a two week break from February 8-21 for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off and then a fave-game homestand to begin the stretch run before the playoffs. The regular season concludes with a two-game trip to California and the final game at Anaheim on April 13th.
At first glance there seems to be an average number of back-to-backs and more local 7 p.m. starts than there were last season. It will be interesting to see how the team navigates they two-week break with at least three Avalanche players participating in the 4 Nations event.
Which games are you looking forward to?