This Week
The Omaha hockey team travels to Oxford, Ohio this week to face Miami in the final two games of their four-game season series. The two teams will play on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8-9. Friday's game begins at 5:38 p.m. CT, and Saturday's game starts at 6:05 p.m. CT from Steve Cady Arena.
The Teams
Omaha is 8-16-2 overall and 4-11-1-0/1 in the NCHC, putting it in seventh place. The Mavericks split a pair of games with No. 8 Western Michigan last weekend, losing 4-3 before winning 6-3. All time, the Mavericks are 18-21-6 against Miami including a mark of 6-11-5 in Oxford. The Mavericks are just 1-10-1 on the road this year, 3-7-0 in the last 10 games and 6-3-1 in their last 10 against the RedHawks.
Miami is 9-15-4 overall and 3-11-2-1/0 in the NCHC, putting it in eighth place, two points behind the Mavericks. The RedHawks are coming off two 5-1 losses at No. 1 St. Cloud State last weekend. MU is 6-6-2 at home this season and 0-9-1 in its last 10 games.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks split their home series with Western Michigan last weekend. On Friday, Ethen Frank scored with 13.7 seconds remaining in the third to give the Broncos a 4-3 win. The Mavericks built a 2-0 lead on goals by
Mason Morelli and
Taylor Ward, but the Broncos reeled off three goals late in the second period to lead, 3-2. UNO tied the game at 14:47 of the third period when
Travis Kothenbeutel scored, setting the stage for the power play game winner from Frank.
Evan Weninger made 32 saves in the loss.
On Saturday, the Mavericks broke open a close game with three goals in the second period and went on to a 6-3 win. UNO led 2-1 after one and then got goals from
Mason Morelli,
Fredrik Olofsson and
Tristan Keck to build a 5-1 advantage. The Broncos got two late goals in the middle period to trim the advantage to two, but the Mavericks successfully killed off a five-minute penalty in the third, and Morelli added his second goal into an empty net with 20 seconds to go. Olofsson had two goals in the game, and
Tyler Weiss also scored. Weninger made another 30 saves to pick up the win.
The Coaches
Mike Gabinet is in his second season as head coach of the Mavericks, posting a 25-33-4 record all-time at his alma mater. The 2004 graduate of Omaha served as an associate head coach during the 2016-17 season before being elevated to the head coach position last season.
Gabinet returned to Omaha 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
Paul Jerrard (Lake Superior State, 1987).
Enrico Blasi is in his 20th season at Miami, the longest-tenured NCHC coach. The 1994 graduate of Miami is 396-303-76 at his alma mater. He is assisted by Peter Mannino (Denver, 2008) and Joel Beal (Union, 2005).
Media
Friday's game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network. John Sadak will call the action, and Pat Micheletti will have analysis.
Both games also 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.
Live video is available on NCHC.tv, and audio and stat links are available at OMavs.com.
Up Next
The Mavericks will have a week off before hosting St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23. Friday's game begins at 5:38 p.m. CT and can be seen nationally on CBS Sports Network. Saturday's game starts at 6:05 p.m. CT. Both games will be played at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.
