There is an NCAA limit on the number of weeks a team can be "active".
I don't remember the rule now, but it had this effect on Michigan State:
  MSU started practice Oct 14, with its first game on Oct 25 (11 days).
As I understand it, one CCHA team had three weeks of practice before their
first game, all others except MSU had two which has one.  However, those
teams will be taking weeks off later in the season.  In the MSU case, with the
Great Western Freeze out, MSU could not take that week off.  So what took
place here, was to move games that had been scheduled the week of Thanksgiving
 on to Tuesday nights in other weeks and that will be one of the MSU "off"
weeks.
 
 In other words, there was some schedule juggling to match up against the
NCAA limit, and different schools have resolved the issue different ways.