2005-06 Schedule Announced

The Detroit Red Wings announced their schedule for the upcoming 2005-06 National Hockey League season on Wednesday.

The Red Wings will return to the ice for the first time since falling in six games to the Calgary Flames in the 2004 Western conference Semifinals on October 5 as they host the St. Louis Blues. The two teams will face off again the following night in St. Louis.

The schedule is focused around intra-division matchups, with Detroit facing Central Division foes Chicago, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis eight times each. The Wings will play at least one “home-and-home” series against the the teams of their division. In the case of Chicago, they will play a “home-and-home-and-home” series starting in late October and leading into November.

Detroit’s opponent for their annual New Years Eve game will be the Columbus Blue Jackets. They face the rival Colorado Avalanche for the first time on November 23 at Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings will get a rematch with the Flames in just their third game of the season, as Calgary visits Detroit on October 9.

The league will take a two-week break in February for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy. To make room for the Olympics, no All-Star Game will be played.

The Red Wings final regular season game will be April 18 when they visit the Nashville Predators.

Detroit announced their preseason exhibition schedule Tuesday.

They will play nine games against five opponents starting on September 19.

The complete preseason schedule is as follows, with home games in bold:

September 19, Tampa Bay, 7:30
September 21, Colorado, 7:30
September 22, Columbus, 7:00
September 23, Dallas, 7:30
September 25, Dallas, 5:00
September 27, Colorado, 7:00
September 28, Columbus, 7:30
September 30, Toronto, 7:30
October 1, Toronto, 7:00