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This Week
The UNO Mavericks return home to host the second-ranked Colorado College Tigers on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5. The games are the first two of four meetings this season. UNO returns the favor when it visits CC in mid-February. The series will mark the first time the two schools have squared off in Omaha. Following this weekend's series, UNO will have just two remaining home games before the Christmas Break.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 4-4-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the WCHA, putting them in a tie with Wisconsin for third. UNO is 1-1-1 all-time against Colorado College. Last season, the Mavericks split a pair of games in Colorado Springs, losing 5-2 in the opener before responding with a 3-0 shutout the following night. The other meeting in the all-time series was a non-conference meeting at the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska in 2006.
The Tigers are 4-0-0 to start the year and 2-0-0 in league play. They are coming off a non-conference sweep at RPI last weekend, winning each game, 4-1. CC began the season with a home sweep of Bemidji State. The Tigers have played fewer games overall than any WCHA team.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks are coming off a split of their first WCHA road series, winning 5-4 at Wisconsin before losing the second game, 6-3. On Friday, the Mavs fell into a 3-0 hole but chipped away with goals from
Brent Gwidt in the first and
Terry Broadhurst in the second. Matt White tied the game early in the third only to see Wisconsin retake the lead less than two minutes later. Undaunted, Broadhurst scored again 1:44 later to make it 4-4 and then set up Alex Hudson for the game-winner with 20.8 seconds remaining.
The Badgers got out to another 3-0 lead on Saturday and although Broadhurst got one back late in the first, UW tacked on one more before intermission and another goal early in the second to lead 5-1 after two. The Mavericks got powerplay goals from Hudson and
Bryce Aneloski in the third to close the gap, but the Badgers scored an empty-net goal to ice it.
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 307-151-41 (.656) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 45-36-8 (.551) 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.
Scott Owens is in his 13th season leading Colorado College. The 1979 graduate of CC is 285-169-41 at his alma mater. He was chosen as the pre-season Coach of the Year in a poll of media who cover the WCHA. He is assisted by Joe Bonnett and Eric Rud.
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
The Mavericks will play their next two weekends on the road beginning Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12 when they visit Bemidji State. Friday's game begins at 7:37 p.m., and Saturday's contest starts at 7:07 p.m. from the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn.
