This Week
The No. 3 Omaha Mavericks make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four when they face the No. 4 Providence Friars on Thursday, April 9 at 5 p.m. ET in the first semifinal.  The game will be played at TD Garden in Boston.

The Teams
The Mavericks are 20-12-6 overall this season, and they finished 12-8-4-3 in the NCHC.  Their third-place finish matches the best in school history.  The Mavericks were 11-7-2 at home this season and 7-5-4 on the road.  They are 2-0-0 in neutral-site games, their first of the year coming in the NCAA Midwest Regionals.

Providence is 24-13-2 overall and finished 13-8-1 in Hockey East, tying it with Boston College for second place.  The Friars were the fourth seed in the NCAA East Regional, beating Miami, 7-5, and Denver, 4-1, to advance to the Frozen Four.  Providence was 13-6-0 at home, 8-7-2 on the road and 3-0-0 in neutral-site games this season.

The Mavericks in the NCAA Tournament
The Mavericks have made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament, earning their first wins in the Midwest Regionals against Harvard and RIT.  Head coach Dean Blais has led them to two NCAA tournament berths, the other coming in 2011 when they were a three seed and lost to Michigan, 3-2 in overtime at St. Louis, Mo.  The first appearance was 2006 under former head coach Mike Kemp when, as a four seed, they lost to Boston University, 9-2, at Worcester, Mass.

Last Time Out
The Mavericks opened the Midwest Regional with a 4-1 win over Harvard on March 28.  Grant Gallo scored 1:59 into the game, and Avery Peterson scored a powerplay goal at 19:58 of the stanza to put UNO in the lead.  After a scoreless second period, Harvard's Jimmy Vesey tallied 3:09 into the third to make it 2-1.  But the Mavericks got empty-net goals from Tyler Vesel and Jake Guentzel to seal it.  Ryan Massa made 33 saves to pick up the win.

In the regional final the following night, Omaha and RIT were scoreless through two periods before Jake Randolph broke the deadlock, firing a long-range shot past goalie Jordan Ruby at 1:01.  Austin Ortega gave the Mavericks some breathing room when he scored at 15:36, and Justin Parizek fired home the puck on a breakaway just 76 seconds later to make it 3-0.  David Pope added an empty netter 50 seconds later.  Massa earned his second shutout of the season with 40 saves.

The Coaches
Dean Blais is in his sixth 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 373-213-57 (.624) in his career as a head coach and has guided the Mavericks to a mark of 111-98-24 (.528).  He coached in his 200th game at UNO on Oct. 31 at Cornell.

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.

Nate Leaman is in his 12th season as a head coach, his fourth at Providence.  The 1997 graduate of SUNY Cortland is 215-185-54 in his career.  He is assisted by Steve Miller and Kris Mayotte.

Media
All post-season games can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2.  Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play, and Terry Leahy will provide analysis from the studio.  Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.  Live audio and stats are available at OMavs.com.  The game also can be seen live on ESPN2. John Buccigross will call the action, Barry Melrose will provide analysis and Quint Kessenich will report from rinkside.