Merrimack Hockey Schedule Finalized; Radio Partnership with WGAM

has announced its complete 2012-13 hockey schedule, while also agreeing to a radio partnership with WGAM ‘The Game’ in New Hampshire to broadcast all regular season and playoff games.

An ESPN Radio affiliate, all of Merrimack’s 36 regular season games and all playoff games will be broadcast live across Northern Massachusetts and all of Southern New Hampshire on 1250 and 900 AM or 1590 AM.

"WGAM 'The Game', southern New Hampshire's home for sports, is so proud to be the new home for Merrimack College Hockey for the 2012-13 season,” said Matt Perrault, General Manager of WGAM. “We are always looking to carry the best local sports in Southern New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts and without a doubt, Merrimack College Hockey has become one of the premier athletic programs in the region.”

“We’re really excited to partner with WGAM for the upcoming hockey season,” said Director of Athletics Glenn Hofmann. “This partnership continues to increase our coverage area and visibility and will help us promote not only Merrimack hockey, but more importantly, Merrimack College.”

With the exception of four Friday games in October and November, all games will be broadcast live on 1250 AM (based in Manchester) and 900 AM (based in Nashua) and online at wgamthegame.com. The four Friday games will air live on WSMN-Nashua 1590 AM and online at wsmnradio.com.

An all-sports radio station, Merrimack will also be featured during WGAM’s “Hometeam with Matt Perrault” show, which airs Monday-Friday at 4 p.m.

“Merrimack fans everywhere will be able to hear the games for free off our two separate radio signals, online off our website and through our WGAM smart phone application,” said Perrault. “We are so excited to get started this fall."

In addition, the 2012-13 schedule was released, which includes 18 regular season home games (and one exhibition), with the home opener against the University of Vermont on October 26.

Led by captains Jordan Heywood (Regina, SK), Brendan Ellis (Kelowna, BC) and Kyle Bigos (Upland, CA), the 2012-13 campaign begins October 6 at Union, who reached the Frozen Four last season. Merrimack will also play Union at the Sheraton/TD Bank Catamount Cup at Vermont on December 28-29 along with Princeton.

After selling out 15 of 17 home games at Lawler Arena in 2011-12, most in school history, Merrimack will also welcome Colgate, Harvard, Connecticut and Army to Lawler Arena, as well as the U.S. Under-18 Team.

Merrimack welcomes the defending National Champion Boston College to Lawler Arena on February 15 and February 23. The Warriors will battle perennial power Boston University on November 9 and January 11 and will host Maine in a rematch of the last two Hockey East Quarterfinals on January 12 before travelling to Orono the following weekend for two games.

Merrimack hosts New Hampshire on January 25 before battling the Wildcats at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester on January 26. UMass Lowell will visit North Andover twice next season (February 1, March 2) as will the University of Massachusetts (February 9, March 8).

All Friday night home games will begin at 7:30 p.m. in 2012-13, while Saturday night games will remain at 7 p.m.

Fans interested in season tickets should call the ticket office at 978-837-5324 or email athletics@merrimack.edu.

Season tickets will go on sale to the general public on May 29.

Ranked nationally all season for the first time in school history, Merrimack went 18-12-7 (13-9-5 in Hockey East), finishing fifth in the league. Highlighted by the first-ever #1 ranking in school history in late November, Merrimack went 9-0-1 to start the season, posting the best start in college hockey nationally in 15 years.