Weekly Release
OMAHA, Neb. - The UNO hockey team opens its 2011-12 season on Saturday night when they host the University of British Columbia in an exhibition game at the CenturyLink Center. Game time is 7:07 p.m., and tickets are on sale throughout the day at the CenturyLink Center box office.
Earlier this Week: WCHA coaches and members of the news media who cover the association have all picked the UNO hockey team to finish fourth in the league standings. A coaches poll conducted by the Grand Forks Herald and a media poll conducted by Duluth, Minn. radio station 94X were released today.
The Mavericks finished in third place in their inaugural season in the WCHA last year after being chosen eighth and ninth in the polls a year ago.
Denver was the unanimous choice to win the MacNaughton Cup this season while the coaches poll had North Dakota in second and Colorado College in third. The media poll had their positions reversed.
The polls come just three days before the 14th-ranked Mavericks begin play with their traditional exhibition game against a Canadian university. The Mavs will host British Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:07 p.m. at the CenturyLink Center. UNO, celebrating its 15th season of hockey, has played a Canadian university in an exhibition game in every season.
The Teams
The Mavericks are coming off the fifth 20-win season in their history and the second straight. They posted a record of 20-16-2 last year and a mark of 17-9-2 in their first year in the WCHA. They finished the regular season in third place, their highest conference finish ever, and earned the second trip to the NCAA playoffs in school history. The Mavs lost to Bemidji State in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs and then fell 3-2 in overtime to national runner-up Michigan in the first round of the West Regional. The Thunderbirds were 11-12-5 last year in the Canada West association. They did not qualify for the league playoffs after finishing in sixth place.
Mavericks vs. T-Birds
The Mavericks and Thunderbirds met for the first time ever last year. The Mavs earned a 6-1 win in the exhibition opener of the 2010-11 season.
Bryce Aneloski tallied the only goal of the first period when he scored at 11:45. Matt White doubled the lead off a Joey Martin feed at 7:47 of the second to make it 2-0 before the Thunderbirds got a goal from Wyatt Hamilton just 1:15 later. White restored the two-goal lead with a powerplay tally from
Brock Montpetit and
Terry Broadhurst at 18:48 to make it 3-1 after two.
The Mavericks poured it on in the third. Alex Hudson scored at 8:56,
Zahn Raubenheimer scored two minutes later, and Rich Purslow added insurance at 18:37 to close the scoring. Broadhurst and Matt Ambroz each had two assists in the game. UNO outshot UBC 35-19.
John Faulkner worked the first period and got the win with eight saves. Mike Taffe minded the net in the second period and
Fredrik Bergman saw action in the third.
The Coaches
Dean Blais is in his third year as the head coach of the Mavericks, having led UNO to back-to-back 20-win campaigns. The 1973 graduate of Minnesota has posted a career record of 303-147-41 (.659) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 41-32-8 (.556) since coming to Omaha. In 2010-11, he was named the WCHA Coach of the Year, the fourth time he's earned the honor. He will serve as the head coach of the 2012 U.S. World Junior Team in December.
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 third-year associate head coach Mike Hastings and first-year assistant coach Brian Renfrew who joins the UNO staff after eight seasons at Michigan State.
Milan Dragicevic is in his 10th season leading the Thunderbirds. He has a career record of 85-149-18 at UBC. The 1994 graduate of Acadia University in Wolfeville, Nova Scotia is assisted by Tyler Kuntz and Jeff Battah.
Media
This season is the first in which all UNO games can be heard live on 96.1 The Brew.
Dave Ahlers will call the play-by-play while Terry Leahy will provide analysis. Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time on-line at www.961thebrew.com.
Streaming audio,
video and live stats are available at OMavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks open the regular season next weekend when they host the annual Mutual of Omaha Stampede. The Mavs will face Mercyhurst in first-round action on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:37 p.m. They'll play either Colgate or Robert Morris is the finale of the tournament on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:07 p.m.
