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This Week
The No. 20 Omaha Mavericks begin the WCHA Playoffs as the seventh seed and will visit No. 10 Minnesota State for a best-of-three first round series on Friday and Saturday, March 15 and 16. If a third game is necessary, it will be played on Sunday, March 17. All three games are scheduled to start at 7:07 p.m. from Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minn.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 18-16-2 overall and finished 14-12-2 in their final season in the WCHA, good for seventh place. The Mavs were swept for the second week in a row, losing at Minnesota Duluth, 5-4 and 6-0. The Mavericks played Minnesota State twice this year, splitting a series in Omaha in December. UNO is 12-15-5 all-time against the WCHA's other Mavericks and has a record of 5-8-2 all-time in Mankato. UNO is 8-7-1 on the road this season, including a mark of 8-5-1 in WCHA games. The Mavs are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games.
Minnesota State closed the regular season with a split against visiting North Dakota, losing 4-3 and then winning 2-1 in overtime. The “Purple Mavericks” are 22-11-3 this season and 16-11-1 in the WCHA, putting them in a tie with Wisconsin and Denver and earning them the sixth seed. MSU is 11-6-1 at home this season and 7-3-0 in its last 10 games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks lost 5-4 and 6-0 at Minnesota Duluth to close the regular season. On Friday, the Mavs got out to a 3-1 lead after the first period on goals by
Josh Archibald,
Andrej Sustr and
Zahn Raubenheimer, but UMD reeled off four goals in the second period to take a 5-3 lead into the second intermission.
Johnnie Searfoss scored 61 seconds into the third period to draw the Mavs to within one, but it would be as close as they could get.
John Faulkner, in relief of
Ryan Massa, took the loss.
On Saturday, Minnesota Duluth scored five powerplay goals en route to a 6-0 win over UNO. The Bulldogs got a pair of goals in each period and were led by Joe Basaraba who had two. Aaron Crandall made 32 saves to earn the shutout while Massa, who started, took the loss in 40 minutes of work.
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 335-181-47 (.637) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 73-66-16 (.523).
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.
Former UNO associate head coach Mike Hastings is in his first year leading Minnesota State. The 1993 graduate of St. Cloud State is 22-11-3 in his short time in Mankato. He is assisted by Darren Blue and Todd Knott.
Media
Both games can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2.
Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play, and Terry Leahy will provide analysis. 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
If the Mavericks win their first round playoff series with Minnesota State, they will advance to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. which begins Thursday, March 21.
