Weekly Release
This Week
The No. 15/16-ranked UNO Mavericks conclude their four-game season series against second-ranked North Dakota this week. The Mavericks will visit Grand Forks for the first time ever on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 21 and 22. Game time is 7:37 p.m. on Friday and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday from Ralph Engelstad Arena. The two teams split a pair of games in Omaha in November with each team winning by a goal.
The Teams
The Mavericks tied and lost to Bemidji State last weekend in their first home games in a month. Overall, the Mavs have posted a record of 12-8-2 on the year and 9-5-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, good for fourth place, two points behind Minnesota Duluth. UNO is 0-3-1 in its last four games. North Dakota is 17-6-2 overall and leads the WCHA with a mark of 12-4-0. The Fighting Sioux are coming off a split of two home games against Minnesota last weekend. The Gophers edged their hosts, 3-2, on Friday, but the Sioux responded with a 4-1 win on Saturday. Since losing to UNO on Nov. 20, North Dakota is 10-1-1 in its last 12 games including an eight-game win streak.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks went 0-1-1 last week, tying Bemidji State, 2-2, in game one of their series before losing 3-2 in overtime on Saturday. On Friday, the Mavs surrendered a goal to Radoslav Illo early in the first period but tied the game on a tally by Matt Ambroz. Ambroz scored again on a second-period power play before Ryan Cramer evened the game late in the second. #John Faulkner# made 24 saves while Dan Bakala turned away 30 from the Bemidji net. The next night, UNO got on the board first with a powerplay goal from Ambroz at 6:14. The Beavers took the lead with goals from Matt Read and Matt Carlson less than three minutes apart in the second period. The Mavericks tied the game on a backhander from #Ryan Walters# early in the third, but the Beavers put the game away in overtime when Read notched his second of the game less than a minute into the extra frame. Faulkner stopped 28 while Bakala had 36 saves as UNO finished with a record of 0-3-1 against the Beavers this season.
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 294-139-41 (.664) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 32-24-8 (.563) 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.
This week will mark Blais' first college games in Grand Forks against his former team. He guided the U.S. Under-20 Team to a 4-2 exhibition win over the Sioux on Dec. 19, 2010 at “the Ralph.”
Dave Hakstol is in his seventh season behind the North Dakota bench after succeeding Blais. He is 172-90-26 all-time. The 1996 North Dakota grad is assisted by fellow UND alums Cary Eades and Dane Jackson.
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 and live stats are available at omavs.com. The games also will be televised on Fox College Sports Central (Friday) and Fox College Sports Atlantic (Saturday).
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks return home to start a six-game home stand, their longest of the year. They begin by hosting the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 28 and 29.
