Weekly Release
This Week
The No. 15-ranked UNO Mavericks return home to Qwest Center Omaha to begin a six-game home stand this week. The Mavs begin by hosting the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 28 and 29. Friday's game begins at 7:37 p.m., and Saturday's game faces off at 7:07 p.m. The string of six straight at home is UNO's longest stretch in Omaha this season.
The Teams
The Mavericks are coming off a split of two games at North Dakota last week. Overall, the Mavs are 13-9-2 on the year and 10-6-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, good for fourth place, four points behind Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota who are tied for second. UNO is 7-2-1 at home this season. Alabama-Huntsville is an independent this season following the dissolution of the College Hockey America conference. The Chargers are 3-23-2 this season and are still looking for their first road win, having posted a record of 0-12-2 away from the Von Braun Center. They are coming off 7-0 and 4-1 losses at Colorado College last weekend.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks earned a hard-fought split at North Dakota last weekend, beating the Fighting Sioux 8-4 on Friday before dropping a 4-2 decision on Saturday. In the opener, the Mavericks put up more goals than any opponent in the history of Ralph Engelstad Arena to stun the then-second-ranked Sioux. UNO erupted for five powerplay goals including four in the second period to turn a 2-1 lead into a 7-1 lead. Joey Martin paced the offense with a hat trick and an assist while #Michael Young# scored his first career goal, and #Ryan Walters#, Rich Purslow, Matt White and #Brock Montpetit# also tallied. UND tried to rally in the third, but Martin squashed the comeback with this third of the night. #John Faulkner# stopped 33 shots to earn the win. In a much tighter rematch, the game was scoreless until #Terry Broadhurst# scored shorthanded at 4:10 of the third period. The Sioux scored the next three before Young scored again shorthanded to make it 3-2. The Sioux iced the game with a powerplay goal in the final minute. Faulkner made 23 saves in the game.
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 295-140-41 (.663) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 33-25-8 (.561) 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.
Chris Luongo is in his first year as the head coach of the Chargers after spending the last two years as an assistant. The 1989 graduate of Michigan State is assisted by Mike Warde and Gavin Morgan.
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 on Friday while Frank Adkisson will join Leahy for Saturday's game. Coverage begins 37 minutes before game time each night. Live audio, streaming video and live stats are available at omavs.com. Saturday's game will be the first of three UNO games carried live statewide on NET-1. Ahlers will call the play-by-play while former UNO goaltender Kendall Sidoruk will provide the analysis and Larry Punteney reports from ice level.
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks will finish their four-game season series with St. Cloud State when they host the Huskies on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4 and 5. Friday's game starts at 7:37 p.m. while Saturday's begins at 7:07 p.m.
