Weekly Release
This Week
The 12th-ranked UNO Mavericks finish their first regular season in the WCHA this weekend when they visit the 11th-ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth. Both games begin at 7:07 p.m. This will be the first meeting of the two schools since October of 2001 when they met in the championship game of the Mutual of Omaha Stampede. UNO has made only one prior visit to Duluth - December of 1997 during the first year of the program.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 20-12-2 overall and have a record of 16-8-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, putting them in third place with 34 points, just one point behind second-place Denver and one ahead of fourth-place UMD. The Mavericks are coming off a split of two games with Denver last weekend. They are 7-8-1 on the road this season. The Bulldogs dropped a 5-4 decision at Colorado College last Friday before fighting back for a 3-3 tie on Saturday. They begin the week with a record of 19-8-6 overall and a 14-7-5 mark in the WCHA. UMD is 9-4-2 at home this year and 3-3-2 since moving to AMSOIL Arena.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks earned a split with visiting Denver in their final two home games of the regular season last weekend. UNO earned a 5-2 win the first night. Rich Purslow put UNO up 1-0 after one with a shorthanded goal. DU fought back to tie it but #Johnnie Searfoss# put the Mavs back up by one just 29 seconds later. The Pioneers again tied the game early in the third, but #Andrej Sustr#, Matt White (shorthanded) and Purslow (empty net) all answered as UNO won going away. #John Faulkner# made 27 saves in the win.
The following night, DU led 1-0 just 3:58 into the game on a goal by Jason Zucker, but the Mavs got tallies from Mike Young and #Brent Gwidt# to take the lead late into the first period. Drew Shore scored on a power play before the intermission to make it 2-2. Zucker then scored one minute into the second period, and Chris Knowlton added an insurance goal late in the third to give DU the 4-2 win. Faulkner took the loss with 10 saves and three goals against. He was relieved by #Fredrik Bergman# who made 20 saves and allowed one goal.
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 302-143-41 (.664) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 40-28-8 (.580) 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.
Scott Sandelin is in his 11th season as the head coach at Minnesota Duluth. The 1986 graduate of North Dakota is 185-198-52 all-time leading the Bulldogs. He is assisted by former UMD defenseman Brett Larson and Derek Plante, a Hobey Baker Award-winner for the Bulldogs 1993.
Media
UNO hockey also can be heard live on the “Voice of UNO Athletics”, KVNO, 90.7 FM. Dave Ahlers will call the play-by-play while 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
UNO returns home to host a first-round WCHA Playoff series at the Qwest Center on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary), March 11-13. The opponent will be determined at the end of play on March 5. Friday's game will start at 7:37 p.m. while Saturday's game and Sunday's, if necessary, will start at 7:07 p.m.
