UPEI men's hockey team's schedule looks a little different

The schedule for the UPEI men’s hockey team looks a little different this season.

The Panthers will play more Wednesday games than in recent years in the AUS Men’s Hockey Conference. Overall, UPEI will play a total of eight mid-week games, including five on home ice at MacLauchlan Arena on the UPEI campus in Charlottetown.

“How it works is there are four Nova Scotia schools and two from New Brunswick and then us,” explained Panthers head coach Forbie MacPherson. “Typically, the Nova Scotia teams grab a travel partner and they kind of go through the schedule together on a weekly or yearly basis. Then for the other three teams, we kind of do a little bit of a rotation.

“For the last couple of years, we’ve been partnering with either Moncton or UNB, and then this year we’re kind of a little bit more on our own. When you’re that team, you end up with a couple more Wednesday games than normal.”

The Panthers opened the 2026-27 regular season splitting a pair of games in Nova Scotia last weekend. The Panthers defeated the Acadia Axemen 4-2 on Oct. 9 and fell 4-1 to the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Oct. 10.

The Panthers host the Moncton Blue Eagles in their home opener at MacLauchlan Arena on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., and then travel to Fredericton to meet the UNB Reds on Oct. 17.

Asked if he prefers the different schedule or if it even make a difference, MacPherson answered there’s a little bit of give and take.

“Sometimes what it does, it gives you the opportunity to rest in between games,” said MacPherson. “For instance, this week, Moncton and UNB play on Wednesday and then we play Friday, Saturday.

“We have Moncton at home on Friday, but then we have to turn around and travel to UNB on Saturday. UNB is essentially resting for both games and waiting for us to drive over. When you’re in the Wednesday game, sometimes it can help schedule-wise a little bit.”

MacPherson said, whenever possible, the Panthers want to avoid playing home games on the same night the Charlottetown Islanders are hosting QMJHL contests at Eastlink Centre.

“It used to be something that we did a deep dive into and the Islanders and ourselves used to work together pretty closely to try to avoid those conflicts,” said MacPherson. “But the AUS essentially gives us two blackout dates, and we have to have them in before the Q schedule’s out, so it’s becoming harder and harder to avoid those. It’s kind of luck of the draw.”

First-half schedule for UPEI Panthers in AUS Men’s Hockey Conference:

• Oct. 9 – UPEI 4 at Acadia 2.
• Oct. 10 – UPEI 1 at Saint Mary’s 4.
• Oct. 16 – Moncton at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 17 – UPEI at UNB, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 21 – St. Francis Xavier at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 24 – Dalhousie at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 30 – Acadia at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 31 – Saint Mary’s at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 4 – Dalhousie at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 6 – UPEI at St. Francis Xavier, 7:30 p.m.
• Nov. 13 – UNB at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 14 – UPEI at Moncton, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 18 – Moncton at UPEI, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 20 – UPEI at UNB, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 25 – UPEI at St. Francis Xavier, 7:30 p.m.
• Nov. 28 – UPEI at Dalhousie, 7 p.m.
• Dec. 2 – UNB at UPEI, 7 p.m.

End of first half.

Jason Simmonds is a sports reporter at The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at jsimmonds@postmedia.com and followed on X @JpsportsJason.