Plan on it

A guide to the coming week

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT HURRICANES

7 P.M. FRIDAY RBC CENTER FSN

The Hurricanes open the season with old faces, new faces and fresh hopes. The Canes have missed the playoffs the past two seasons after winning the Stanley Cup in 2006. Eric Staal (new contract) and Rod Brind'Amour (repaired knee) are back; Erik Cole (traded for defenseman Joni Pitkanen) is gone. Look for The News & Observer's season preview on Friday and go to blogs.newsobserver.com/ canes for the latest on Lord Stanley's blog.

BOSTON COLLEGE AT UNC SOCCER

7 P.M. FRIDAY

Fetzer Field

The Tar Heels women's soccer team will get another ACC test from highly ranked Boston College. Sophomore Brooke Knowlton has led the Golden Eagles in scoring this season. Broughton's Casey Nogueira, a junior, leads the Heels in scoring.

Carolina Crown Mixed Martial Arts

7:30 P.M. SATURDAY

RBC Center Ticketmaster

Billed as the largest MMA fight in North Carolina's history, the main event at the very least pits two interesting names: Nissen Osterneck vs. Aitor Canup. Raleigh's Brandon Garner, who has been featured on SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fight, will face Seth Marquez.

EAST CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA

12 P.M. SATURDAY

Scott Stadium WRAL

East Carolina's football team should be well rested after a week off -- it lost two straight upsets, to N.C. State and Houston -- before the break. Even with the letdowns, which undercut their own pair of upset wins, against Virginia Tech and West Virginia, the Pirates are

likely to be favored on the road in Charlottsville, Va., against another ACC opponent. East Carolina is 2-0 in the all-time series, last beating Virginia

31-21 in 2006. For the Pirates, it's a chance to get back on track.

NOTRE DAME AT UNC

3:30 P.M. SATURDAY

Chapel Hill WTVD/ESPN

Caulton Tudor says it's a big deal to play Notre Dame in North Carolina. Beating the Fighting Irish here would be even bigger. The Tar Heels have reason to hope this game will be more of a matchup than a mismatch. The last time they played, in 2006, Notre Dame won, 45-26. But this is the Butch Davis era, and UNC has a better team and, maybe, a chance to win at Kenan Stadium. The Irish have lost only once to the Tar Heels in 17 meetings since 1949 -- a 12- 7 UNC win at home in 1960.