Weekly Release
This Week: The #19 UNO hockey team concludes the 2009-2010 regular season as it hosts the #6 Bemidji State Beavers on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26 and 27. Friday's game begins at 7:35 p.m. while Saturday's game faces off at 8:05 p.m. UNO's seven seniors will be honored prior to Friday's game. Both teams will be new members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association beginning next season.
Last Week: The Mavericks split a road series at then-#1 Miami last Friday and Saturday. UNO lost the first meeting, 6-2. #
Alex Hudson# had both UNO goals, and #
John Faulkner# made a career- and team season-high 39 saves. The next night, the Mavs beat the RedHawks, 4-2, overcoming a 2-1 deficit in the process. Hudson and #
Matt Ambroz# scored goals in the third period to break a 2-2 tie to give the Mavericks their first win over a top-ranked team since 2001. #
Nick Fanto and Rich Purslow# also scored goals, and #
Jeremie Dupont# made 26 saves to get the win.
The Records: The Mavericks are 17-13-6 this season and 13-12-3-2 in the CCHA, putting them in fifth place. With all but UNO and Alaska playing conference games this weekend, the Mavericks can finish no higher than their current position but no lower than seventh, thereby assuring themselves of home ice advantage in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs. Bemidji State is 21-7-2 overall and 13-3-0 in College Hockey America, good for first place.
The Series: The Mavericks have won all four previous meetings with Bemidji State, the last coming on Feb. 15, 2003. All four prior meetings have come in Omaha. UNO has outscored BSU 23-9 in the all-time series.
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 278-127-37. 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.
Tom Serratore is in his eighth season at Bemidji State. The 1987 BSU graduate is 161-127-31 all-time at his alma mater.
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 and streaming video at omavs.com.
Coming Up: The Mavericks will host a best-of-three first round CCHA Playoff series next weekend. They will not know their opponent until the conclusion of conference action this weekend. The games will take place on March 5, 6 and 7, if necessary, at 7:35 p.m. on Friday and 7:05 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
