Weekly Release
CCHA Weekly Release

This Week:  The UNO hockey team heads to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to close out the season series with clustermate Lake Superior State.  The two teams will play Friday and Saturday, Jan. 15 and 16 at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.  Game time each night is 6:05 p.m. CT.

Last Week:  The Mavericks split a pair of games with Alaska last weekend at Qwest Center Omaha.  The Nanooks took the opener, 3-1, snapping a tie game with two third-period goals.  UNO outshot the Nanooks, 42-21 in the game.  The next night, the Mavericks built a 2-0 lead and held on for a 2-1 win.  Sophomore Alex Hudson snapped an eight-game point drought with UNO's only goal on Friday and had both goals in Saturday's win.  John Faulkner stopped 21 shots on Saturday to earn his eighth win of the year.

The Records:  The Mavericks are now 10-9-5 this season and 6-8-2-1 in the CCHA, putting them in a three-way tie for seventh place with Michigan and Notre Dame.  The Lakers are 12-8-4 overall and 7-7-2-1 in the CCHA, good for fifth place.  They are just three points ahead of the Mavericks in the league standings.

The Series:  The Mavericks are 14-7-5 all-time against Lake Superior State, and they've posted a 5-3-2 record in Sault Ste. Marie.  Last season, the Mavericks swept a pair of games at Lake State, winning 3-2 and 2-1 on Dec. 12 and 13, 2008.  These two teams have already played each other twice this season.  The Mavs earned their first shutout of the year with a 4-0 blanking of the Lakers in Omaha back on Nov. 13.  Lake Superior responded the next night with a 3-1 win.

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 271-123-36.  He coached Team USA to a gold medal in the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on January 5, 2010.  Blais is assisted by former Omaha Lancer head coach and first-year associate head coach Mike Hastings and third-year assistant coach Nick Fohr.  Jim Roque is in his fifth season as head coach at Lake Superior State.  In that time, the 1987 graduate of LSSU has posted a record of 69-81-29.

Media:  Both games will be broadcast live on “The Voice of Omaha's Team”, KVNO 90.7 FM.  Dave Ahlers will call the action while Terry Leahy will provide features from the studio.  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 are back on the ice of Qwest Center Omaha to host the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22 and 23.  Friday's game starts at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday's game begins at 7:05 p.m.