This Week
The Omaha hockey team concludes the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule by hosting No. 17 Minnesota Duluth in a two-game NCHC series on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8-9. Both games begin at 7:07 p.m. from Baxter Arena.
The Teams
Omaha is 6-7-1 this season and 1-5-0-0/0 in the NCHC, good for eighth place. The Mavericks are coming off two losses to No. 2 St. Cloud State last weekend. That dropped their home record to 3-2-1 this season. All time, UNO is 9-15-3 against the Bulldogs including a record of 7-8-0 at home. Last season, the Mavericks went 0-3-1 against UMD including an 0-2-0 mark at Baxter Arena.
Minnesota Duluth is 7-8-2 overall and 2-6-0-0/0 in the NCHC, putting it in seventh place. The Bulldogs suffered a pair of one-goal losses to No. 1 Denver last week at home. This season, UMD is 3-4-0 on the road and 1-3-0 in NCHC road games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks played their first NCHC home games last weekend, losing 7-4 and 5-0 to No. 2 St. Cloud State. On Friday, they trailed 5-2 entering the third period but got goals from
David Pope at :43 and
Zach Jordan at 4:20 to draw to within one. The Huskies sealed the game with late goals from Jake Wahlin and Mikey Eyssimont, the second of the game for both players.
Steven Spinner and
Tyler Vesel also scored for UNO.
Evan Weninger made 20 saves in two periods of work while
Alex Blankenburg made three stops on four shots in the third.
On Saturday, the Huskies broke a scoreless tie with two goals in the first 6:08 of the second period and pulled away for a 5-0 win. Three of their goals came during special teams play (two power play, one shorthanded). Weninger made 28 saves in the loss.
The Coaches
Mike Gabinet is in his first season as head coach of the Mavericks, posting a 6-7-1 record. The 2004 graduate of Omaha served as an associate head coach under
Dean Blais last season and was elevated to the head coaches' position following Blais' departure after eight years at the helm.
Gabinet returned to his alma mater after four seasons at NAIT in Edmonton, Alberta, the last as its head coach. That season, he led the Ooks to a 36-0-0 record and the ACAC Championship. He was named the conference Coach of the Year and became the first rookie head coach in Canadian college hockey to guide his team to an undefeated record.
Gabinet, a standout defenseman for the Mavericks from 2000-04, is assisted by
Dave Noel-Bernier (Omaha, 2001) and
Peter Mannino (Denver, 2008).
Scott Sandelin is in his 17th season as the head coach at Minnesota Duluth. The 1986 graduate of North Dakota is 322-292-84 all-time at UMD. He is assisted by Jason Herter and Brett Larson.
Media
Friday's game can be seen live on NET World (Cox channel 16/1016 in Omaha) and Fox College Sports Central.
Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play,
David Brisson will provide analysis and Ryan Mix reports.
Both games can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2. Donny Baarns will provide the play-by-play on Friday, and Ahlers takes over on Saturday. Terry Leahy provides analysis and Lester St. James reports both nights. Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.
Live video can be found on NCHC.tv while audio and stat links can be found at OMavs.com. Saturday's game also will be carried on Yurview on Cox Cable (Omaha channel 13/1013) with Baarns as studio host.
Up Next
Following the Christmas break, the Mavericks will finish their eight-game home stand by hosting Union of ECAC Hockey on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 29-30. Both games begin at 7:07 p.m.
