This Week
The No. 8 Omaha Mavericks host their first National Collegiate Hockey Conference series this week when they welcome No. 6/7 Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6-7.  Both games begin at 7:07 p.m. from Baxter Arena.  These will be the only meetings of the season between the two teams as the Mavericks do not travel to Duluth, Minn.

The Teams
The Mavericks dropped their first two games of the season last weekend and are now 6-2-0 overall and 0-2-0-0 in the NCHC.  They have played just one series at home prior to this weekend, beating Air Force on Oct. 23-24.  Omaha is 7-12-2 all-time against Minnesota Duluth, including a 5-6-0 record against UMD in Omaha.  Last year, the Mavericks and Bulldogs split the season series 1-1-2 with the Mavericks earning two shootout victories in Duluth.

NCHC preseason No. 1 Minnesota Duluth comes to Omaha with a record of 3-2-2 overall and will be playing its first NCHC games this weekend.  The Bulldogs are coming off a split with visiting UMass-Lowell at home last weekend.  UMD is 1-1-2 away from home this season.

Last Time Out
The Mavericks were swept for the first time this year, losing 4-2 and 6-1 at Western Michigan last weekend.  On Friday, WMU built two one-goal leads only to see the Mavericks tie the game on tallies by Justin Parizek and Jake Guentzel.  But the Broncos got the lead back for good late in the second and iced it with another tally in the third.  Kirk Thompson took the loss in net with 21 saves.

The next night, the Broncos raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and handed the Mavericks their worst loss of the season.  With the Mavericks trailing 5-0, Guentzel scored shorthanded in the third period, but the Mavericks could muster no more offense.  Evan Weninger suffered his first career loss with three goals against and nine saves in the first period.  Thompson stopped 22 shots in two periods of relief.

The Coaches
Dean Blais is in his seventh year as the head coach of the Mavericks, having led UNO to three 20-win campaigns in that time.  The 1973 graduate of Minnesota has posted a record of 379-216-57 (.625) in his career as a head coach and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 117-101-24 (.533).

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 coaches Troy Jutting and Alex Todd who both have extensive head coaching experience, Jutting at Minnesota State and Todd at Castleton (Vt.) State.

Scott Sandelin is in his 16th season as head coach at Minnesota Duluth.  The 1986 graduate of North Dakota and former Blais assistant at UND is 271-263-72 all-time leading the Bulldogs.  He is assisted by Jason Herter and Brett Larson.

Media
Friday's game will be carried live statewide on NET1 and regionally on Fox College Sports Pacific.  Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play and former Maverick David Brisson will provide analysis.  Both games also can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2.  Mike Melbye will have the call on Friday and Ahlers will do so on Saturday.   Terry Leahy will provide analysis for both games, and Lester St. James will report from ice level.  Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.  Live video is available at NCHC.tv. while live audio and stats can be found at OMavs.com.

Up Next For The Mavericks
The Mavericks have a week off before returning to the road to face Miami on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20-21 at Oxford, Ohio.