Weekly Release
This Week: The UNO hockey team travels to the campus of Notre Dame to face the Fighting Irish on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29 and 30. Game time is 7:05 p.m. CT from the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind.
Last Week: The Mavericks earned their second CCHA series sweep of the season with 7-2 and 5-3 wins over Northern Michigan at Qwest Center Omaha. On Friday, the Mavs posted their biggest goal output of the season in beating the Wildcats, 7-2. #
Jeric Agosta and Rich Purslow# each had two goals, and freshman #
Brandon Richardson# led all scorers with a goal and three assists. #
Terry Broadhurst and Dan Swanson# also tallied. #
Jeremie Dupont# made 22 saves. The next night, #
Nick Fanto# scored with less than two and a half minutes left to snap a 3-3 tie and send the Mavs off to a 5-3 win. Fanto also had an empty net goal, while #
Alex Hudson had a pair and John Kemp# tallied on the powerplay. #
John Faulkner# made 24 saves.
The Records: The Mavericks are 12-11-5 this season and 8-10-2-1 in the CCHA, putting them in eighth place. The Irish are 11-10-7 overall and 7-7-6-2, good for sixth place in the league
The Series: The Mavericks trail the all-time series with Notre Dame, 9-16-4. They are 4-8-2 at the Joyce Center. Last season, the Irish won all four games against the Mavs including two in the second round of the CCHA playoffs. In fact, Notre Dame has shutout UNO in three straight games. The Mavericks have lost six straight to the Fighting Irish and are winless in their last eight head-to-head (0-7-1). They have just one win against Notre Dame in the last four seasons (11/25/06, 3-2 W in Omaha).
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 273-125-36. 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.
Jeff Jackson is in his fifth season as head coach at Notre Dame and his eleventh as a college head coach. He coached Lake Superior State to national championships in 1992 and 1994 and has an overall record of 296-110-46.
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 analysis. Coverage begins 20 minutes before the face-off. Live audio is available at
kvno.org and live stats at omavs.com. Both games also will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports.
Coming Up: The Mavericks are home to host Ohio State on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5 and 6. Friday's game starts at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday's game begins at 7:05.
