This Week
The No. 13 Omaha hockey team begins the NCHC Playoffs, visiting No. 14 North Dakota for a best-of-three quarterfinal series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if necessary, March 9-11. Friday's game begins at 7:38 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday's games begin at 7:08 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
The Teams
Omaha is 17-15-2 overall and finished the regular season 10-13-1-0/0 in the NCHC, good for fifth place. The Mavericks are coming off a win and a loss at Minnesota Duluth last weekend. The Mavericks are 5-11-0 on the road this season including a mark of 3-9-0 in conference games. All time, UNO is 10-17-1 against the Fighting Hawks including a record of 6-7-1 in Grand Forks. The Mavericks split with UND during the regular season with each team winning and losing on home ice. UNO is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games.
North Dakota is 14-12-10 overall and finished the NCHC schedule 8-10-6-1/2, putting it in fourth place. The Fighting Hawks lost to and tied visiting St. Cloud State last weekend, losing 4-3 in overtime and deadlocking, 2-2. UND is 8-5-6 at home this year including a mark of 5-3-4 in conference games. The Fighting Hawks are winless in their last four games and 2-4-4 in their last 10 games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks split their final regular season series last weekend, winning 4-1 and losing by the same score at Minnesota Duluth. On Friday, UNO spotted the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead but then scored four unanswered goals to win.
Zach Jordan tied the game with his 16th goal in the first, and
Jake Randolph had the eventual game winner during a second-period power play.
Tristan Keck and
Steven Spinner added goals in the third, and
Evan Weninger made 41 saves to earn the win.
The next night, the game played out in reverse. UNO got the first lead of the game on a goal by
Martin Sundberg, but the Bulldogs would get three goals in the second and an empty netter in the third to earn the split. Joey Anderson had two goals for UMD, and Scott Perunovich and Karson Kuhlman had the others. Weninger made 35 saves.
The Coaches
Mike Gabinet is in his first season as head coach of the Mavericks, posting a 17-15-2 record. The 2004 graduate of Omaha served as an associate head coach under
Dean Blais last season and was elevated to the head coach 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).
Brad Berry is in his third season as head coach at North Dakota. The 2002 graduate of UND is 69-34-17 during his time leading the Fighting Hawks. He is assisted by Dane Jackson and Matt Shaw.
Media
Each game of the series can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2.
Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play, and Terry Leahy provides analysis. Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.
The series will be televised each night by Midco Sports Network.
Live video of both games can be found on NCHC.tv with audio and stat links available at OMavs.com.
Up Next
If the Mavericks win the quarterfinal series, they will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn. on Friday and Saturday, March 16-17.
