Weekly Release
This Week
The No. 8/9-ranked UNO Mavericks conclude calendar year 2010 on the East Coast this week as they visit Quinnipiac of ECAC Hockey for games on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 30 and 31. Thursday's game begins at 7 p.m. ET while Friday's rematch will face off at noon ET at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. These will be the first two meetings ever between the two schools. The Bobcats are the last of three new opponents for the Mavericks this season with Clarkson and North Dakota the others.
The Teams
The Mavericks return to action with a record of 12-5-1 overall and 9-4-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, good for fourth place. The Mavs trail second-place Minnesota Duluth and Denver by one point. UNO split a two-game series the last time out, losing to Colorado College, 5-2 before winning 3-0 in the rematch. Quinnipiac is 8-9-1 overall and 4-5-1 in ECAC play, good for fifth place. The Bobcats haven't played since a 5-2 loss at Providence College on Dec. 11, a gap of 19 days between games. They have lost five of their last six games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks worked out a road split at Colorado College to finish off their first half of their 2010-11 schedule. In the opener, the Mavericks got into penalty trouble and surrendered a season-high three powerplay goals in a 5-2 loss. #Alex Hudson and Terry Broadhurst both tallied for the Mavs while John Faulkner# stopped 21 shots. The Tigers had 11 power plays totaling more than 14 minutes while UNO had just two for 1:39. Power plays were harder to come by in the finale as were goals for Colorado College as the Mavericks earned a 3-0 win. Matt White scored on a breakaway late in the first period to put the Mavs up, 1-0. That score held up until early in the third when #Rich Purslow added his sixth of the season off assists from Joey Martin and Matt Ambroz#. Brock Montpetit made it 3-0 at 10:25 tipping home a pass from Ryan Walters to close the scoring. Tony Turgeon also had an assist. Faulkner stopped 24 shots to earn his and the team's fourth shutout of the season and second on the road. Each team went scoreless on three power plays.
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 294-136-40 (.668) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 32-21-7 (.592) 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.
Rand Pecknold is now in his 16th season guiding the Quinnipiac hockey team. The 1990 graduate of Connecticut College is 309-210-48 during his tenure in Hamden. He is assisted by Ben Syer and Bill Riga.
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 30 minutes before game time. Live audio, streaming video and live stats are available at omavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks have another week off following this week's games. They resume the WCHA schedule on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14 and 15 when they play Bemidji State at Qwest Center Omaha. These will be the third and fourth meetings of the season. Bemidji State took two games from the Mavericks in Bemidji, Minn. on Dec. 3 and 4.
