Weekly Release
This Week: The UNO hockey rings in the new year as one of four teams participating in the Wells Fargo Denver Cup. The Mavericks will face the host team, the second-ranked Denver Pioneers of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, on Friday, Jan. 1 at 8:35 p.m. CT and then play the St. Lawrence Saints of the ECAC on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 5:05 p.m. CT.
Last Time Out: The Mavericks earned a tie and an overtime win over Minnesota State in non-conference action on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 18 and 19. UNO skated to a 1-1 tie with the Mavericks of the North in the opener of the home-and-home series. #
Matt Ambroz# had UNO's only goal, and #
John Faulkner# made 29 saves. The next night in Omaha, #
Nick Fanto# scored midway through the first period to erase a 1-0 lead for Minnesota State. #
Rich Purslow# notched the game winner just 43 seconds into overtime. Faulkner got the win in net with 23 saves.
The Records: The Mavericks are now 9-7-4 this season and 5-7-2-1 in the CCHA, putting them in a tie for seventh place with Northern Michigan. Denver is 11-5-2 overall and leads the WCHA with a mark of 9-3-2. The Pioneers haven't played since a split of a two-game series at Minnesota-Duluth on Dec. 11 and 12. St. Lawrence is 8-7-2 this season and 4-3-1 in ECAC play putting it in sixth place. The Saints last played on Dec. 12, losing to Vermont, 3-0.
The Series: UNO trails the all-time series with Denver, 2-6-0. The Mavericks have never won in Denver, going 0-5-0. This will be the first ever meeting between UNO and St. Lawrence.
The Coaches: #
Dean Blais# is in his first year as the head coach of the Mavericks. He brings an impressive resume to Omaha, having led the University of North Dakota to national titles in 1997 and 2000. He won five WCHA regular season titles with UND and two playoff championships. He is a two-time winner of the Spencer Penrose Memorial Award given to Division I hockey's top coach. The native of International Falls, Minn. has a career record of 270-122-36. Blais will not be coaching this weekend as he has joined Team USA which he is leading as head coach in the IIHF World Junior Championship. Blais is assisted by former Omaha Lancer head coach and first-year associate head coach Mike Hastings, who will assume head coaching duties in Blais' absence, and third-year assistant coach
Nick Fohr.
George Gwozdecky is in his 16th season at Denver. The 1977 graduate of Wisconsin is 357-222-48 all-time at Denver and has a mark of 440-316-67 as a head coach.
Joe Marsh is in his 25th year at St. Lawrence, the only school at which he has coached. A graduate of New Hampshire in 1977, Marsh is 444-368-62 in his career.
Media: Both games will be broadcast live on “The Voice of Omaha's Team”, KVNO 90.7 FM.
Dave Ahlers will call the action, and Terry Leahy will provide analysis. Coverage begins 20 minutes before the face-off. Live audio is available at
kvno.org and live stats at omavs.com.
Coming Up: The Mavericks return to CCHA play when they host the #17 Alaska Nanooks on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 8 and 9. Friday's game begins at 7:35 p.m. while Saturday's game faces off at 7:05 p.m.
