By By Jared Shafran, News Staff

The women’s hockey team has announced its schedule for the 2009-10 season. Including two exhibition games against Dawson and McGill Sept. 26 and 27, the team will open the season with nine straight games at Matthews Arena.
Union College will visit Matthews for the regular season opener Oct. 3 and the next day, Hockey East play kicks off with a battle of Huskies when Connecticut comes to town.
This year the Huskies will face non-conference opponents like Robert Morris, Quinnipiac, Bemidji State, Yale, Princeton, and Niagara.
The Hockey East highlights include an early game against Boston College Oct. 13, the first road trip for a pair of games at Vermont on Halloween weekend, Oct. 30 and 31, and defending Hockey East champion New Hampshire comes to Matthews Nov. 29.
Northeastern will try for its 15th Beanpot title this year. The first round will be held Feb. 2 and the Huskies will face Boston University. This year, Harvard will host the tournament at the Bright Center in Cambridge. The program’s most recent Beanpot title came in 1998.
‘ The Huskies conclude the regular season with a home-and-home series against Connecticut Feb. 20 to 21. The Hockey East playoffs begin Feb. 27 with the quarterfinals.
Last season, the Huskies finished with an overall record of 12-20-3 and 6-14-1 in conference play, good enough to secure the sixth and final postseason spot in Hockey East.