Weekly Release
CCHA Weekly Release
This Week: The UNO hockey team begins a four-game home stand this week as it hosts Ohio State University on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5 and 6. Friday's game begins at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday's contest faces off at 7:05 p.m. On Friday, the Mavericks will host “Sell Out Ohio State”, a promotion to sell out Qwest Center Omaha for the first time in school history.
Last Week: The Mavericks split a pair of games with Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind. On Friday, the Mavericks rallied from two one-goal deficits to earn a 5-3 win over the Fighting Irish to snap a six-game winless streak head-to-head and a six-game skid at UND's Joyce Center. #
Jeric Agosta had two goals and an assist and John Kemp# had an empty-net goal and two helpers. #
Matt Ambroz and Dan Swanson# also scored for the Mavs. #
Jeremie Dupont# had 31 saves in the win. On Saturday, Notre Dame built a 3-0 lead and held on in the dying seconds to beat the Mavericks, 3-2. #
Terry Broadhurst and Rich Purslow# had goals in the final six minutes to draw the Mavs close. #
John Faulkner# took the loss with 23 saves.
The Records: The Mavericks are 13-12-5 this season and 9-11-2-1 in the CCHA, putting them in an eighth-place tie with Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 11-13-2 overall and 9-9-2-1in the league standings.
The Series: The Mavericks trail the all-time series with Ohio State, 12-13-4. They are 8-3-2 all-time at home against the Buckeyes. Last year, the Mavs dropped a pair of one goal games in Columbus, Ohio, losing 4-3 and 3-2 in November of 2008. UNO is unbeaten in the last three games against OSU at the Qwest Center.
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 274-126-36. 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.
John Markell is in his 14th season as head coach at Ohio State. The 1979 graduate of Bowling Green is 253-247-48 in his career in Columbus.
Media: Friday's game will be televised live statewide on
NET 1, Nebraska's PBS station.
Dave Ahlers and former Maverick goaltender Kendall Sidoruk will call the action. Both games also will be broadcast live on “The Voice of Omaha's Team”,
KVNO 90.7 FM. Frank Adkisson will call the action on Friday and Ahlers will have the play-by-play on Saturday while Terry Leahy will provide analysis both nights. Coverage begins 20 minutes before the face-off. Live audio is available at kvno.org and live stats at omavs.com.
Coming Up: The Mavericks play their second straight home series next weekend when they host the University of Michigan Wolverines on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13. Both games start at 7:05 p.m. Saturday's game is part of “Hockey Night in Omaha” presented by First National Bank as the Mavericks will play back-to-back with the Omaha Lancers. The Lancers game against the Chicago Steel starts at 4:05 p.m. at Omaha Civic Auditorium.
