This Week
The Omaha hockey team concludes the regular season by hosting No. 2 North Dakota for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday, March 6-7. Both games begin at 7:07 p.m. from Baxter Arena.
Omaha will honor five seniors prior to the game on Saturday night.
The Teams
Omaha is 13-16-5 overall and 7-12-3-0/0 in the NCHC, putting it in sixth place. UNO is 12-23-1 all-time against the Fighting Hawks including a record of 5-11-0 at home. In January, the Mavericks split a pair of games with UND in Grand Forks, winning 6-3 to open the series before falling 4-1 the next night. This season, the Mavericks are 6-7-3 at home and 4-6-0 in their last 10 games.
North Dakota is 25-4-4 this season and 16-3-3-1/1 in the NCHC, putting it in first place. The Fighting Hawks are coming off 3-1 and 2-1 OT wins over Western Michigan at home last weekend. UND is 7-3-4 on the road this year and 7-2-1 in its last 10 games.
Media
Both games will be televised live on Cox Yurview channel 1013 in Omaha.
Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play, and former Maverick goaltender
Alex Blankenburg will have color commentary.
Both games also can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2. Donny Baarns will have the play-by-play, Terry Leahy provides analysis and Lester St. James reports. Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.
Streaming video is available on NCHC.tv. Live audio and stat links are available at OMavs.com.
Briefly
- Entering the weekend, the Mavericks have four more wins and two more conference wins than last season. They've also scored 14 more goals while they're on pace to allow 12 fewer goals.
- Freshman Nolan Sullivan is second in the NCHC and ninth nationally in face-off winning percentage, winning 60.5 percent of his draws. He is the only freshman in the top 10.
Series History: Omaha vs. North Dakota
The decade-long series between the Mavericks and North Dakota comes to its inevitable conclusion this weekend as the two designated rivalry partner meet for the third and fourth times this season. While the Fighting Hawks have had the better of the play, the series always offers something unexpected.
The Mavericks trail the series, 12-23-1, and they're 5-11-0 all-time in Omaha. Indeed, the road has been better to the Mavericks who have seven wins at Ralph Engelstad Arena including one earlier this season. It stands as the only home loss for UND this season. (See full game results on page 6).
Senior
Zach Jordan leads all current Mavericks in career scoring lead against North Dakota with six goals and four assists for 10 points in 13 games. Senior
Teemu Pulkkinen is next with three goals and three assists for six points in 12 games. Sophomore
Taylor Ward led UNO in scoring at UND in January (2-1-3) and has three goals and two assists for five points in six games, but he will not play this weekend due to injury.
Together Everyone Achieves More
Omaha has taken team play to heart this season. Through 34 games, 21 of UNO's 22 skaters who have played have registered at least one point. Eighteen of those 22 have scored at least one goal with 17 players, led by
Taylor Ward (16), earning multiple goals.
Team play was never more evident than in the Mavericks' series at Colorado College on Jan. 24-25. Ten different players scored UNO's 10 goals while 14 of the 20 players who skated registered at least one point.
The Mavericks now have four players who have scored 20 or more points. Ward and
Kevin Conley lead the Mavericks in scoring with 27 points.
Tyler Weiss (4-18-22) and
Chayse Primeau (8-12-20) both have reached the 20-points plateau.
Fourteen players have scored 10 or more points this season, third-most among all NCHC teams behind North Dakota (16) and Western Michigan (15).
Up Next
The Mavericks will be seeded either sixth or seventh for the first round of the NCHC Playoffs. Their opponent and the site of the series will be determined at the end of play on Saturday. The first round will be a best-of-three series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if necessary, March 13-15.
