Weekly Release
Sell Out Wisconsin
This Week
The No. 16 UNO Mavericks finish off a season-long six-game homestand by hosting the seventh-ranked Wisconsin Badgers at Qwest Center Omaha. The games will mark the sixth and seventh meetings all time between the two schools but the first since October of 2003 when the Badgers took part in the Mutual of Omaha Stampede. The Mavericks come into this weekend's series looking for their first win head to head. The Badgers lead the all-time series, 5-0-0.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 16-10-2 this season and a 12-6-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, putting them in fourth place, two points ahead of Wisconsin. UNO is coming off 3-0 and 4-3 wins over visiting St. Cloud State last weekend. The Mavericks are 10-3-1 at home this season with each loss coming by a single goal. The Badgers are coming off a bye week. They are 19-8-3 overall and 11-7-2 in the WCHA. They come to Omaha having won five straight and have fashioned a 5-3-2 mark on the road this season.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks earned their first series sweep since mid-December with 3-0 and 4-3 wins over St. Cloud State last weekend. In the opener, the Mavs broke a scoreless tie with three goals in a span of 1:41 to seize control of the game and win, 3-0. Eric Olimb began the scoring at 3:22 off an assist from Rich Purslow. #Brock Montpetit# made it 2-0 just 1:15 later when he wristed a shot past goalie Mike Lee. Matt Ambroz capped the scoring by converting a pass from Olimb just 26 seconds later. #John Faulkner# made 33 saves to earn his NCAA-leading sixth shutout of the year.
The next night, St. Cloud State raced out to a 3-0 lead after one period on goals by David Eddy, Garrett Roe and Drew LeBlanc. UNO got one goal back in the second period when Olimb scored unassisted at 14:30. In the third period, the Mavericks again blitzed the Huskies, this time getting three goals in a span of 3:40 to seize the lead. Matt White got free and scored a nifty backhand goal at 6:48. Three minutes later, #Terry Broadhurst# tipped in a blast from Olimb to tie the game at three. #Ryan Walters# gave the Mavs the lead when he scored off a pass from Montpetit just 40 seconds later. Freshman goalie Mike Taffe, in relief of Faulkner, made 17 saves over the final two periods to earn his first collegiate win.
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 298-141-41 (.664) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 36-26-8 (.571) 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.
Mike Eaves is in his ninth year leading the Badgers. The 1978 graduate of Wisconsin is 190-130-41 (.583)all-time at his alma mater. He is assisted by first-year assistant coaches Bill Butters and Gary Shuchuk.
Media
Friday's game will be televised live, statewide on NET-1. Dave Ahlers will call the play-by-play while former UNO standout David Brisson provides analysis, and Larry Punteney reports from rinkside. As always, UNO hockey also can be heard live on the “Voice of UNO Athletics”, KVNO, 90.7 FM. Frank Adkisson will have the call on Friday while Ahlers returns on Saturday. Terry Leahy provides analysis for both games. Coverage begins 37 minutes before game time. Live audio, streaming video and live stats are available at omavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks return to the road next weekend when they visit Alaska Anchorage for games on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18 and 19. Game time is 10:07 p.m. CT each night from Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.
