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This Week
The No. 16 Omaha Mavericks make their longest road trip of the season this week when they travel to Alaska Anchorage for games on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15-16. Game time is 10:07 p.m. CT each night.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 16-12-2 overall and 12-8-2 in the WCHA, putting them in a tie with Minnesota for third place, five points behind St. Cloud State. The Mavs suffered just their second series sweep of the season and first at home last weekend, losing to North Dakota, 2-1 and 5-2. UNO leads the all-time series with Alaska Anchorage, 3-2-1, and has a mark of 1-1-1 in Anchorage. The Mavericks are 6-5-1 on the road this season and 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
Alaska Anchorage earned a split at Michigan Tech last weekend, coming from behind in the third period to earn a 5-4 win on Friday before losing 6-1 on Saturday. UAA is 4-17-7 overall and 2-16-6 in the WCHA, good for 12th place. The Seawolves are 2-7-5 at home this season and 1-6-3 in their last 10 games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks dropped a pair of games to North Dakota last weekend at home. On Friday, the Mavs opened the scoring when
Ryan Walters converted a pass from
Josh Archibald at 7:53 of the first period for his team-leading 17th goal of the year. North Dakota countered just 1:07 later when Rocco Grimaldi scored to tie the game at one. UND got the game winner at 11:34 of the second when Danny Kristo fired home his 17th goal of the year off a wild scramble at the UNO netfront.
Dayn Belfour, in his first start of the year, made 34 saves for UNO while Zane Gothberg had 33 to earn the win.
On Saturday, the two teams played the first outdoor game in either school's history, taking to the temporary ice of TD Ameritrade Park, home of the NCAA Division I Men's College World Series. UND started fast, getting goals from Jordan Schmaltz (PP), Nick Mattson and Mitch MacMillan in the first 10:32 of play. Corban Knight added a fourth goal late in the second period. UNO tried to climb back in it, getting a powerplay goal from Archibald at 7:39 and an even-strength tally from
Dominic Zombo 2:22 later to make it 4-2. But Kristo added another goal for UND at 18:42 to squelch any comeback bid.
John Faulkner took the loss after giving up the first three goals on five shots. Belfour made 20 saves in relief. Gothberg again picked up the win for UND making 29 saves.
The Coaches
Dean Blais is in his fourth year as the head coach of the Mavericks, having led UNO to two 20-win campaigns in that time. The 1973 graduate of Minnesota has posted a career record of 333-177-47 (.640) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 71-62-16 (.530).
Blais is a two-time Spencer Penrose Memorial Award winner as the Division I coach of the year and a four-time winner of the WCHA's Coach of the Year Award. 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 first-year assistant coaches
Steve Johnson and Troy Jutting who both have extensive coaching experience in the WCHA, Johnson as an assistant at St. Cloud State and Jutting as the head coach and an assistant at Minnesota State.
Dave Shyiak is now in his eighth season at UAA. The 1993 graduate of Northern Michigan is 80-169-33 all-time in Anchorage. He is assisted by Campbell Blair and T.J. Jindra.
Media
Both games can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2.
Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play, and Terry Leahy will have analysis for both games. Coverage begins with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show 30 minutes before game time. Streaming audio, video and live stats are available at OMavs.com.
Up Next For the Mavericks
The Mavericks will host the U.S. National Team Development Program in an exhibition game on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7:37 p.m. in their only action next week.
