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This Week
The No. 16 Omaha Mavericks finish the regular season on Friday and Saturday, March 8-9 when they visit the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. The games, the third and fourth meetings of the season between the two schools, both start at 7:07 p.m. from AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
The Teams
The Mavericks are 18-14-2 overall and 14-10-2 in the WCHA, putting them in sixth place, one point behind Wisconsin and Minnesota State and one ahead of Denver. The Mavs were swept by Wisconsin last weekend, losing 4-3 and 6-2 at home. The Mavericks are 5-6-0 all-time against UMD including a pair of wins in November in Omaha. UNO is 1-3-0 vs. the Bulldogs in Duluth. The Mavs have a record of 8-5-1 on the road this season, including a mark of 8-3-1 in WCHA games, and are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games.
Minnesota Duluth picked up a pair of non-conference wins over visiting Alabama-Huntsville last weekend, 4-2 and 4-0. The Bulldogs are 12-17-5 overall and 8-13-5 in the WCHA, putting them in ninth place. UMD is 7-8-1 at home this season and 2-6-2 in its last 10 games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks dropped a pair of games to Wisconsin to conclude the home half of the regular season schedule. On Friday, the Badgers built three one-goal leads only to see the Mavs rally to tie the game before Brendan Woods scored with 1:42 left to give UW the 4-3 win. Mark Zengerle, Michael Mersch and Joseph LaBate all scored goals for the Badgers while
Ryan Walters,
Bryce Aneloski (PP) and
Andrej Sustr (PP) responded each time.
Ryan Massa, making his first start of the regular season, stopped 24 shots in the loss while Joel Rumpel also turned aside 24 to earn the win for the Badgers.
On Saturday, UW exploded for four goals in the second period to pull away for a 6-2 win. The Badgers again seized the lead with a goal from Tyler Barnes at 3:03 of the first period, but
Josh Archibald even the game later in the period. Ryan Little started the offensive explosion for Wisconsin with a goal at 2:56 of the second period. Mersch, Jake McCabe and Mark Zengerle all followed with tallies to put UW up 5-1 after two. Mersch scored again just 41 seconds into the third period before Walters completed the scoring at 9:26.
John Faulkner made 28 saves in the loss for UNO while Rumpel again backstopped the win for UW with 27 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 335-179-47 (.639) and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 73-64-16 (.529).
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.
Scott Sandelin is in his 13th season as the head coach at Minnesota Duluth. The 1986 graduate of North Dakota is 229-227-63 all-time leading the Bulldogs. He is assisted by Jason Herter and Derek Plante.
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
The Mavericks' opponent and venue for the first round of the WCHA playoffs will be determined at the conclusion of the league schedule on Sunday.
