Weekly Release
This Week
The No. 12/13 UNO Mavericks make their first road trip in a month as they visit the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves for games on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18 and 19. Face-off is 10:07 p.m. CT each night from Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. The series will mark just the second and third meetings all-time between the two schools. The Mavs and 'Wolves played to a 2-2 tie at the Nye Frontier Classic tournament in October of 2006.
The Teams
The Mavericks head to the Last Frontier with a record of 18-10-2 this season and a mark of 14-6-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, putting them in a tie with Minnesota Duluth for third place at 30 points. That puts them just one point behind second-place Denver and two back of league-leading North Dakota. UNO is coming off 4-1 and 4-3 wins over visiting Wisconsin last weekend. The Mavericks are 6-7-1 on the road this season. The Seawolves lost 6-1 and 3-1 decisions at North Dakota last week. They are 10-15-3 overall and 9-13-2 in the WCHA, putting them in eighth place, just a point behind Minnesota. UAA is 7-4-3 at home this season.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks picked up their first ever win over Wisconsin in the opener of last week's series. The Mavs won 4-1, scoring four unanswered goals. After spotting the Badgers a 1-0 lead on a goal by Jordy Murray, Joey Martin scored on the power play, and #Johnnie Searfoss# tallied at even strength to put the Mavs up 2-1 after two. Alex Hudson scored unassisted and Rich Purslow hit an empty net in the final period to close the scoring. #John Faulkner# stopped 31 shots for the win.
In the finale, UNO got on the board midway through the first period on a goal by #Brock Montpetit#. Wisconsin answered with a Jake Gardiner goal to tie the game at one after one. Matt Ambroz scored halfway through the second period, and Hudson added a powerplay tally less than four minutes later to stake the Mavs to a 3-1 lead at intermission. Ambroz scored again at 3:55 of the third before the Badgers closed the gap on powerplay goals by Murray and Craig Smith. Faulkner finished the game with 27 saves.
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 300-141-41 (.665) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 38-26-8 (.583) 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.
Dave Shyiak is in his sixth season as head coach at Alaska Anchorage. The 1993 graduate of Northern Michigan is 61-124-24 leading the Seawolves. He is assisted by Campbell Blair and Ryan McKelvie.
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, and Terry Leahy will provide 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 will play their final home series of the regular season next week when they welcome the fourth-ranked Denver Pioneers to Qwest Center. The two teams will square off on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26. Friday's game begins at 7:37 p.m., and Saturday's starts at 7:07 p.m. UNO finishes the regular season the following weekend at Minnesota Duluth.
