The Norman Northstars will play six games at home in each of the first two months of the 2012-13 Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League, including their first four contests of the campaign.

The team's regular season kicks off on Thanksgiving weekend, when they play host to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Oct. 5-6. Things don't get any easier the following Friday and Saturday (Oct. 12-13) when the always-powerful Winnipeg Wild roll into the C.A. Nesbitt Arena. The Northstars conclude the first month of the season with a pair of games against divisional rivals and frequent playoff foes the Interlake Lightning on Oct. 26-27, another Friday-Saturday homestand.

The team remains at home to begin November, welcoming the Yellowhead Chiefs on Nov. 2-3, then hit the road until Friday Nov. 16 when they play the first of four straight at home, starting with the Central Plains Capitals, whom they play again the following night. The following weekend's opponents are the Southwest Cougars, who come to town Nov. 23-24.

December's home schedule sees the Northstars host the perennial league leaders the Winnipeg Thrashers on Dec. 14-15 and fans get an early Christmas present the next weekend when the Northstars play the Pembina Valley Hawks Dec. 21-22 before the league takes a break for Christmas and New Year's.

The Kenora Thistles are the first visitors of 2013, coming to town Jan. 4-5, with the Northstars' next home games coming on the month's last weekend, when they host the Eastman Selects on Jan. 25-26.

The first weekend of February is also the last weekend of regular season home games for the Northstars as the Parkland Rangers come to town Feb. 1-2.

Unlike the past few seasons, all of the Northstars' home series will be played on Friday and Saturday nights in the upcoming campaign, rather than a mixture of Friday-Saturday and Saturday-Sunday schedules. Friday games begin at 8 p.m. and Saturday contests start at 7:30 with the exception of the Dec. 22 match against Pembina Valley, which is at 2 p.m.

The Northstars road schedule generally feature three games in three days with the exception of the season's first road trip, when they play four days in a row in three different arenas, and the first away games of 2013, when they play three times in four days.