The Bemidji State University women’s hockey team unveiled its 2013-14 schedule Tuesday afternoon. Next season, the Beavers are slated to play 34 games, including 28 Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) contests and one exhibition tilt. Of the team’s 34 games, 18 will be played at the Sanford Center. BSU’s season will begin with a trip to Lindenwood University Sept. 27-28.

After opening the season on the earliest date in program history against Lindenwood on the road, the Beavers will get an off week before returning to Bemidji for their home opener against Robert Morris University. The Oct. 11-12 series versus the Colonials kicks off an eight-game homestand that will lead BSU into conference play.

Lindenwood will make a trip to the Sanford Center Oct. 18-19 to cap Bemidji State’s nonconference slate for the season. The Beavers won their only all-time game against Lindenwood, 11-0, in the Hall of Fame Face-Off Classic in Eveleth, Minn. Nov. 10, 2011. BSU is 5-1-0 all-time against Robert Morris and most recently swept the Colonials with a pair of 3-2 wins in Pennsylvania 2011.

Conference play for Bemidji State begins with a bang. Oct. 25-26, the Beavers will host a University of Minnesota squad fresh off an undefeated national championship season in 2012-13. Last year, BSU was one of three teams to take the Gophers to overtime. BSU’s string of home games ends the following weekend with two games against the University of North Dakota.

For the first time in six weeks, BSU will hit the road with its furthest trip from Bemidji on the season when it treks to Ohio State University Nov. 8-9. After a home series against Minnesota State University, Mankato Nov. 15-16, the Beavers will stay in state for a road series the next weekend against the University of Minnesota Duluth.

The day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, the Russian National Team will pay a visit to Bemidji in BSU’s only exhibition test of the season.

The Beavers will conclude play in the first half of the season at LaBahn Arena in Madison, Wis. against the University of Wisconsin Dec. 6-7. BSU will play there for the first time since Oct. 19-21, 2012, when it opened the arena with a 1-0 win and went on to record its first series win against the Badgers by playing to a 3-3 tie in the weekend finale.

Following a 25-day layoff, the Beavers will begin 2014 with a trip to Minnesota State Jan. 3-4. The next week, the team will play its final new opponent of the season when it hosts St. Cloud State University.

Bemidji State will finish January by playing Wisconsin at home, traveling to North Dakota, and hosting Minnesota Duluth in a Jan. 31-Feb. 1 series. The Beavers’ final home series of the season will be Feb. 14-15, a week after they complete their season series against Minnesota on the road. They will close out the regular season with a trip to St. Cloud State.

All eight WCHA teams will play best-of-three playoff series Feb. 28-March 2 at the site of the higher-seeded team. The four winners from that weekend will play for a conference championship and an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament in Bemidji March 7-8 in the WCHA Final Face-Off. Three conference champions and five at-large teams will then play for a national title in the NCAA Tournament, beginning the following week.

Click HERE for the complete 2013-14 schedule.