Weekly Release
This Week
The eighth-ranked University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey team makes history when it hosts the Minnesota State Mavericks in its first ever Western Collegiate Hockey Association home series. The games, the first at home for the UNO Mavericks in a month, are on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5 and 6 at Qwest Center Omaha. Friday's game begins at 7:37 p.m., and Saturday's faces off at 7:07 p.m.
The Teams
The Mavericks are coming off a bye week. They haven't played since splitting a non-conference series at Michigan on Oct. 22 and 23. UNO is 5-1-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the WCHA, good for seventh place. The Mavs have played two fewer games than most conference teams and four fewer than Minnesota State and Minnesota. Minnesota State is off to a 2-2-4 start overall and has posted a 2-2-2 mark after six games of WCHA play. The Mavericks from Mankato are coming off a 3-2 win and a 2-2 tie at Alaska Anchorage last weekend.
Last Time Out
UNO split a pair of games with old CCHA nemesis Michigan on Oct. 22 and 23 at Yost Ice Arena. The Mavericks jumped out to a 4-0 lead and hung on for a 4-2 win in the opener. Ryan Walters tallied his first collegiate goal in the first period to stake the Mavs to a 1-0 lead. UNO broke the game open in the second. #Terry Broadhurst# scored off his own rebound at 3:40 of the period. Brock Montpetit tallied his first collegiate goal during a power play at 9:03 of the stanza, and Matt White tied for the team lead in goals by scoring his fifth of the season off the rebound of a shot by #Joey Martin#. #John Faulkner# earned his fifth win of the year with 34 saves. The following night, the Wolverines were staked to a 1-0 lead just eight seconds into the game on a goal by David Wohlberg and then added three more tallies in the first ten minutes of the second period to lead 4-0. #Alex Hudson# scored on a four-on-three power play later in the period, but Michigan notched two more goals in the third to pull away. Faulkner took the loss, allowing three goals on 18 shots. #Fredrik Bergman# made his college debut in relief, stopping 14 of 17 shots.
The Coaches
#Dean Blais# is in his second year as the head coach of the Mavericks. The 1973 graduate of Minnesota has posted a career record of 287-132-39 (.669) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 25-17-6 (.583) since coming to Omaha. Blais is a two-time Spencer Penrose Memorial Award winner as the Division I coach of the year. He spent 10 years as head coach at North Dakota where he led the Fighting Sioux to national championships in 1997 and 2000. He is assisted by second-year associate head coach Mike Hastings and first-year assistant coach Mike Guentzel.
Troy Jutting is in his 11th season as the head coach at Minnesota State. The 1987 graduate of MSU is a two-time WCHA Coach of the Year. He has compiled a record of 160-184-51 during his tenure in Mankato. He is assisted by Darren Blue and Todd Knott.
Media
UNO hockey can be heard live on the “Voice of UNO Athletics”, KVNO, 90.7 FM. Dave Ahlers will call the play-by-play while Terry Leahy provides analysis for both games this weekend. Coverage begins 37 minutes before game time. Live audio, streaming video and live stats are available at omavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
UNO will be back on the road next week when it visits 20th-ranked St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 12 and 13. Both games begin at 7:07 p.m. from SCSU's National Hockey Center. The Mavericks and Huskies will play each other four times this year. St. Cloud State ventures to Omaha for games of Feb. 4 and 5 at the Qwest Center.
