ORONO – A game against national runner-up Harvard and a season-opening series with Wisconsin are among the highlights on this year’s schedule for the University of Maine women’s ice hockey team.

The Black Bears will host the Badgers for a two-game series Oct. 19 and 20, kicking off the 2003-04 season. The home stand continues the following weekend when Maine hosts Colgate.

The Bears head on the road for games at Yale, Brown, Princeton, and Boston College. The two-game series against the Terriers Nov. 14-15 represents the start of the Hockey East season.

Maine will host Hockey East foe Providence for two games, then travel to Boston Nov. 29 to face Harvard, which fell to Minnesota-Duluth in last season’s championship game.

“The highlight, of course, will be our matchup with Harvard at the end of November,” UMaine coach Rick Filighera said. “This will be a good test of where we are heading into the heart of our conference schedule.”

Maine will also face nonconference opponent Union at Schenectady, N.Y.

The Bears will close out the regular season March 6-7 with two games at Connecticut.