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This Week
The UNO Mavericks play their first road games in more than a month this week when they visit the Minnesota State Mavericks for games on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20 and 21. Friday's game begins at 7:37 p.m., and Saturday's game starts at 7:07 p.m. from the Verizon Wireless Center in downtown Mankato, Minn. UNO has not been on the road since a series at North Dakota on Dec. 9 and 10.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 11-9-4 overall and 8-5-3 in the WCHA, putting them in a tie with Denver for fourth place with 19 points. That puts them one behind third-place Colorado College and two ahead of sixth-place Michigan Tech. UNO swept the two-game season series with Minnesota State last season and now trails the all-time series, 10-13-5. UNO is 4-7-2 all-time in Mankato.
The purple Mavericks are 7-16-1 overall and 3-12-1 in the WCHA, putting them in a tie for 11th with Alaska Anchorage. MSU is coming off a 4-0 loss and a 3-0 win over visiting Wisconsin last weekend. Minnesota State is 4-7-1 at home this season.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks split a two-game home series with No. 1 Minnesota Duluth last weekend and in the process stopped the Bulldogs school-record 17-game unbeaten streak. In the opener on Friday, the 'Dogs broke open a 2-2 game with four goals in the third period on their way to a 6-2 win. UMD opened with two quick goals, but the Mavericks got tallies from
Brock Montpetit and Matt White early in the second to knot the game. Duluth's J.T. Brown finished a hat trick with two third-period goals and Mike Seidel and Joe Basaraba also scored for the visitors for the final margin.
John Faulkner took the loss in net for UNO with 34 saves.
On Saturday, Montpetit put UNO up 1-0 after one on a powerplay tally. UMD's Jack Connolly tied the game early in the second period before
Andrew Schmit got his first career goal to give UNO a 2-1 lead after two.
Josh Archibald added an empty netter in the third to ice it.
Ryan Massa made 43 saves to backstop his second straight win.
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 314-156-43 (.654) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 52-41-10 (.553). In 2010-11, he was named the WCHA Coach of the Year, the fourth time he's earned the honor. He recently completed his second stint as the head coach of the U.S. World Junior Team at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.
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 UND 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.
Troy Jutting is in his 12th year as the head coach at Minnesota State. The 1987 graduate of Minnesota State is 179-216-54 at his alma mater. He is assisted by Darren Blue and Todd Knott.
Media
Both games can be heard live on 96.1 The Brew this week.
Dave Ahlers will call the play-by-play and Terry Leahy will have analysis both nights. 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 have one more bye week before returning to action at home against Bemidji State. They will host the Beavers on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:37 p.m. and on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:07 p.m. Saturday's game will be shown statewide on NET-1 and NET-HD.
