Weekly Release
Live Audio
Streaming Video
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This Week
The UNO Mavericks return home for the first time in three weeks to host the St. Cloud State Huskies on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 26 and 27. Saturday's game begins at 7:07 p.m., and Sunday's game features a special 2:07 p.m. face-off. UNO will not play at home again until Dec. 30 and 31 when it hosts Quinnipiac of ECAC Hockey.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 6-6-2 overall and 5-3-2 in the WCHA, putting them third place, three points behind second-place Minnesota Duluth and one ahead of fourth-place Denver. UNO is 3-4-1 all-time against St. Cloud State, earning all three wins and the tie in four games last season. UNO is 2-0-0 all-time against the Huskies at home.
Like the Mavericks, St. Cloud State is 6-6-2 overall and 4-3-1 in conference play. The Huskies are coming off a split of a home-and-home series with Minnesota last weekend. SCSU won, 4-3, on Friday at home before dropping a 5-0 decision in Minneapolis on Saturday. The Huskies are 2-6-0 away from the National Hockey Center this season.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks lost to Denver, 7-3, and tied the Pioneers, 3-3 in action last weekend at Denver. On Friday, the Pioneers forged two one-goal leads in the first period, but the Mavericks answered with tallies from
Josh Archibald and
Ryan Walters. DU blew the game open with five goals in the second period.
Terry Broadhurst scored to narrow the gap to 4-3 before the Pioneers fired home three more.
John Faulkner took the loss with 23 saves.
The next night, the Mavericks got out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by
Jayson Megna, Archibald and Mike Young. DU chipped away, getting goals from Shawn Ostrow and Jason Zucker in the second and a powerplay tally from Beau Bennett in the third to tie the game.
Brent Gwidt had a chance to win it in overtime but was stopped with .5 seconds remaining.
Dayn Belfour made 26 saves in his first career start.
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 309-152-42 (.656) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 47-37-9 (.554) 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.
Bob Motzko is in his seventh year at the helm of the St. Cloud State program. The 1987 graduate of SCSU is 126-98-30 at his alma mater, having earned WCHA Coach of the Year honors in 2006 and 2007. He is assisted by Mike Gibbons and
Steve Johnson.
Media
Both UNO games this weekend 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 online at UNO's IHeart Radio channel, “Mavericks Radio.” Streaming audio, video and live stats are available at OMavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
Next week, the Mavericks return to the road to play two non-conference games against Alabama-Huntsville. The games will be Friday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., home of the NHL's Nashville Predators.
