Weekly Release
This Week
The eighth-ranked UNO Mavericks will finish off the first half of the 2010-11 season this weekend when they visit the No. 20 Colorado College Tigers for games on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 18 and 19. Saturday's game begins at 8:07 p.m. CT while Sunday's finale faces off at 7:07 p.m. CT. The games will mark the first meetings between the teams in nearly five years and just the second and third meetings overall.
The Teams
The Mavericks begin this week with a record of 11-4-1 overall and 8-3-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, good for fourth place. The Mavs swept a two-game series from Michigan Tech last week, winning 5-2 and 3-1, in their last home series before the New Year. The Tigers have put together a five-game winning streak and are now 10-7-1 overall and 7-5-0 in the WCHA, good for fifth place, just three points behind UNO. Colorado College is coming off a sweep at St. Cloud State with 3-0 and 5-2 wins.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks took care of business against Michigan Tech, beating the Huskies 5-2 and 3-1 in the first meetings between the two schools in more than 11 years. In game one, the Mavs snapped a scoreless tie when #Matt Ambroz# scored at 1:05 of the second period. The Huskies tied the game at 8:24, but UNO got goals from Matt White and #Jordan Willert# just 1:32 apart to put UNO up 3-1 after two. Milos Gordic scored a powerplay goal for MTU in the third, but the Mavs answered with goals from #Eric Olimb and Joey Martin# to put the game away. #John Faulkner# stopped 17 shots in the win. The following night, Ryan Walters gave UNO a 1-0 lead before the Huskies tied the game on a goal by Aaron Pietila in the second. The Mavs responded with goals from Ambroz and Brock Montpetit in the third to earn their seventh home win. Faulkner made 18 saves.
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 293-135-40 (.669) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 31-20-7 (.595) 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.
Scott Owens is in his 12th season leading Colorado College. The 1979 grad of CC is 268-157-39 (.620) in his time in Colorado Springs and is the college's all-time wins leader. He is assisted by Joe Bonnett and Jason Lammers.
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 through America One and live stats are available at omavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks will enjoy 10 days off for the Christmas holiday before returning to action with a non-conference series at Quinnipiac of the ECAC on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 30 and 31. They will be the first games ever between the two schools. Thursday's game begins at 6:30 p.m. CT while Friday's New Year's Eve contest begins at a celebration-friendly time of 11 a.m. CT.
Following another week off, the Mavericks then resume the WCHA schedule on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14 and 15 when they play Bemidji State at Qwest Center Omaha.
