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New season dawning Devils will raise Stanley Cup banner on Oct. 16Posted: Wednesday July 16, 2003 5:44 PM
NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The 2003-04 NHL season will include an outdoor meeting between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens, a contest between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils in Rochester, New York and more intraconference games. Released Wednesday, the season begins Oct. 8 with three games and ends April 4 for its earliest conclusion since 1990-91. The Oilers and Canadiens will face each other at Edmonton's 50,000-seat Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 22 -- the 86th anniversary of the league's inception. The game will follow a contest of alumni from both franchises, including Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur. It is part of the NHL's Vintage Hockey program, a series of "turn back the clock" games in which the Canadiens, Oilers, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks will wear throwback jerseys. Also, for the first time since the 1969-70 season, home teams will wear dark-colored jerseys. That means the Sabres will be clad in black when they take to the ice at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena on November 12 against the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils. Rochester is home to Buffalo's top minor-league affiliate as well as the Sabres' new owner, Tom Golisano. The Devils open defense of their third championship in nine years on Oct. 8 at Boston. They will raise the Stanley Cup banner at Continental Airlines Arena eight nights later before a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Other opening night games have the Dallas Stars hosting the Western Conference champion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in a playoff rematch and the Chicago Blackhawks hosting the Minnesota Wild. The Ducks-Stars contest is one of six between the Pacific Division rivals. All division foes will play each other six times and other teams within their conference four times. Teams play one game against each non-conference opponent along with three other non-conference games. The Phoenix Coyotes expect to open their new arena in Glendale, Arizona on Dec. 27 against the Nashville Predators. The Hall of Fame Game between the Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers will be Nov. 1, two days before the inductions of Grant Fuhr, Pat LaFontaine, Mike Ilitch and Brian Kilrea. All-Star Weekend is Feb. 7-8 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Hockey Day in Canada, which features a tripleheader of the league's six Canada-based teams, is Feb. 21.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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