This Week
    Omaha begins a three-week stretch of home series in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference against Top 10 opponents as it returns to Baxter Arena to face No. 8 St. Cloud State at 7:07 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 

The Teams
    Omaha enters the final six games of the regular season in sixth place in the NCHC after losing two games at Miami last weekend. It was only the second time the Mavericks have been swept in a series. Omaha was playing in its third consecutive road series and its sixth in its last seven weekends of competition.  
    St. Cloud State went 1-0-2 in three games last week against Top 10 foes. The Huskies skated to a 2-2 tie with Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday, tied 5-5 with Western Michigan on Friday and then beat the Broncos 4-1 on Saturday. They are currently six points ahead of Omaha in the league standings entering the weekend.

The Coaches
    Mike Gabinet is in his fifth season as head coach of the Maverick and has posted a 71-82-11 record at his alma mater. The 2004 Omaha graduate served as an associate head coach during the 2016-17 season before being elevated to the head coach position in 2017-18.
    Gabinet returned to Omaha after four seasons at the North Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton, Alberta, the last as its head coach. That season, he led the Ooks to a 36-0-0 record and the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference 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).
    Brett Larson (Minnesota Duluth, 2004) is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Huskies. Prior to taking over the SCSU program, he was an assistant at his alma mater, winning national titles in 2011 and 2018.

Media
    Both games can be heard live on 1180 The Zone. Casey Roehl will handle the play-by-play duties while Terry Leahy provides analysis. Coverage begins with the FNBO Pregame Show. 
    Live video is available on NCHC.tv while audio and stat links are available at OMavs.com.
 
Series History: Omaha vs. St. Cloud State
    The Mavericks and Huskies first met in 1998 and have played 42 times over the years. St. Cloud State has
been dominant in the series, posting a 27-13-2 record against Omaha. The Huskies had a 10-game winning streak in the series from 2016 to 2019.
    The two teams played twice in November, splitting a pair of games in St. Cloud, Minn. Then-No. 1 St. Cloud State beat the Mavericks 5-1 in the series opener. Omaha bounced back to win 3-2 in overtime on Saturday. Austin Roden, starting for an injured Isaiah Saville, made 43 saves to beat the Huskies for the second straight season. Taylor Ward scored the game-winner in OT.