The Portland Pirates will open the 2008-2009 American Hockey League season at home on Oct. 11. Portland will face Manchester at 7 p.m. in its home opener at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Portland's 80-game schedule includes 40 home games, and three of those home games will be played at other arenas in Maine # Nov. 14 vs. Albany and March 14 vs. Lowell at the Colisee in Lewiston, and Dec. 9 vs. Manchester at Alfond Arena in Orono.

The Pirates will play Albany on Feb. 10 at HSBC Arena, the home of Portland's parent club, the Buffalo Sabres.

The schedule also includes a four-game road trip to Connecticut, Virginia and Massachussetts from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5 and a seven-game road trip in February.

The AHL released its season schedule for its 29 teams on Thursday. The AHL season begins Oct. 8 with two games - Lowell at Providence and Hershey at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Both are 7:05 starts.