Weekly Report
This Week
The No. 9/10-ranked UNO Mavericks return to Qwest Center Omaha for their final home series before the New Year when they welcome the Michigan Tech Huskies for games on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 9 and 10. Face-off is 7:37 p.m. each night. It will be the first meetings between the two schools since the 1998-99 season.
The Teams
The Mavericks come into the week with a record of 9-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, good for fourth place. The Mavs are coming off a sweep at the hands of Bemidji State last weekend in Bemidji, Minn. The Beavers won 3-0 and 3-1 in the first two of four meetings this season. UNO is now 1-3-1 in its last five games. The Huskies come to Omaha with a record of 3-8-2 overall and a mark of 1-8-1 in the conference, putting them in 12th place. They have now dropped eight straight games following 7-3 and 5-0 losses to visiting Colorado College last weekend.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks were swept for the first time this season, losing 3-0 and 3-1 at Bemidji State last weekend. The Beavers scored a goal in each period on Friday and stopped all six UNO power plays to win the first meeting of the year between the two WCHA newcomers. #John Faulkner# stopped 22 shots in the loss. The following night, Johnnie Searfoss put the Mavericks up 1-0 in the first period with his fifth goal of the year off assists from #Joey Martin and Alex Hudson#, but the Beavers had an answer, scoring the tying goal in the last second of the second period and two more in the third to complete the sweep. Faulkner made 26 saves as the Mavs outshot the Beavers, 40-29.
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 291-135-40 (.667) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 29-20-7 (.580) 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.
Jamie Russell is in his eighth season behind the bench at Michigan Tech. The 1989 graduate of MTU has posted a record of 69-175-35 (.310) in that time. Last season, he led the Huskies to a mark of 5-30-1 and a record of 4-24-0 in the WCHA, good for 10th place. Prior to taking the Michigan Tech job, he was an assistant at Cornell and Ferris State. Russell is assisted by fellow MTU alum Pat Mikesch ('96) and Damon Whitten.
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 finish off the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 18 and 19 when they visit Colorado College for just the second and third meetings between the schools all-time. Saturday's game begins at 8:07 p.m. CT, and Sunday's game starts at 7:07 p.m. CT. After a week off around the Christmas holiday, the Mavericks return to action with a non-conference series at Quinnipiac of the ECAC on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 30 and 31.
