Both hockey teams at the University of Vermont have announced their schedules for the upcoming season. Hockey will return to "The Gut" beginning Oct. 1 when the women's team opens its regular season against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The men's team is scheduled to play there the following day in an exhibition match. Following four out-of-conference games, the men's Catamount squad will have a tall task awaiting them — two straight home games against defending Hockey East champion Boston College. The team will also compete against defending NCAA champion University of Massachusetts Amherst at home in late February. Members of the women's team enter the season looking to improve on a fourth-place finish in a highly competitive Hockey East last year. Their in-conference competition will once again prove to be fierce. Four national quarterfinal qualifying teams — Northeastern, Colgate, Boston College and Providence — are listed on their schedule. Northeastern would go on to finish as the national runner-up, dropping their championship matchup 2-1 against the University of Wisconsin. The women's annual "Pack the Gut Challenge" is scheduled for Jan. 21 against Providence.