This Week
    The Omaha Mavericks officially kick off the 2023-24 campaign with a home series against the Niagara Purple Eagles.

The Teams
    The Mavericks finished last season 19-15-3 with six wins coming against ranked opponents. Omaha looks to jump out to fast start this season welcoming back the Niagara Purple Eagles to Baxter Arena.
     The Niagara Purple Eagles also finished last year with 19 wins and an overall record of 19-18-3. Niagara was 7-6-2 on home ice and 12-12-1 on the road. 

Last Time Out
    The Mavericks and Purple Eagles met in the opening weekend of last season at Baxter Arena. Niagara edged Omaha in both games sneaking away with a pair of 4-3 victories over the Mavericks.

The Coaches
    Mike Gabinet is entering his seventh season as head coach of the Mavericks, posting a 94-101-14 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 in 2017-18.
    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 Associate Head Coach Dave Noel-Bernier (Omaha, 2001), Associate Coach Peter Aubry (Mercyhurst, 2001) and Assistant Coach Bennett Hambrook (Hamilton, 2017).
    Jason Lammers is in his 7th season as head coach of Niagara. A 1998 graduate of SUNY Geneso, Lammers is 179-91-31 with the Purple Eagles. He is assisted by Mark Phalon (Associate HC) and Nate Skidmore.

New Kids On The Block
    The Mavericks welcome 8 newcomers to the roster this year. The list of newcomers is made up of 5 transfers and three Freshmen. Transfers: #6 Zach Urdahl - Forward ...  #9 Dom Vidoli - Defenseman ... #14 Jesse Lansdell - Forward ... #15 Noah Ellis - Defenseman ... #32 Seth Eisele ... Goaltender. Freshmen: #1 Will Craig - Goaltender ... #24 Charlie Lurie - Forward ... #71 Tanner Ludtke - Forward.

This Is Your Captain Speaking
    For the second season in a row, the Mavericks will be led by Graduate centerman, Nolan Sullivan. The Eden Prairie, Minnesota native will don the C once again. Like last season, he will be joined by Graduate and Senior forwards Jack Randl and Matt Miller as they will have the alternate "A" on their sweaters.

All-Time vs. Niagara
    The Mavericks and Purple Eagles are set for just the 11th and 12th meetings all-time between the two teams this weekend. The all-time series is currently 6-3-1 and 4-3-1 when the game is played in Omaha. Both in favor of Niagara.

Jack Attack
    Senior forward Jack Randl led all Mavericks with 34 points last season. Randl scored nine goals in 38 games in 2021-22. It took him just eight games last season to eclipse that mark. He is also the first player in program history to score 8 goals in the first 6 games of a season. The previous record of 7 was held by Austin Ortega (15-16) and Brandon Scero (06-07). Randl lead the Mavericks in plus-minus, power play goals, shorthanded goals, game winning goals, OT goals and had 38 blocks which was second on the team.

SOS
    Last season, the Mavericks had the 16th hardest strength of schedule in college hockey among 61 teams as determined by the KRACH ratings.
    During the regular season, Omaha will play four teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament last year in Denver, St. Cloud State, Western Michigan and Ohio State.

The Spirit of the Maverick
    The Mavericks retained the Spirit of the Maverick trophy last Saturday night when they defeated the Minnesota State Mavericks 1-0 in a exhibition contest in Mankato, Minnesota.
    It's the second season in a row Omaha has defeated Minnesota State in preseason play to hang on to the trophy.

Mavericks vs. Mavericks
    Omaha battled Minnesota State for 60 hard minutes with the games lone goal coming with just 2:40 left in regulation. Matt Miller broke the deadlock with a backhanded shot on net that trickled home 5-hole. Goaltending shined as netminders Simon Latkoczy and Seth Eisele combined for a 38-save shutout.

French Connection
    The sophomore defensive pair of Jo Lemay and Jacob Guevin were a mainstay for the Mavericks on the blueline last season. The pair played in 31 games on the blueline together and registered 6 goals, 24 assists for 30 points combined. Both Guevin and Lemay landed on the NCHC All-Rookie team last year.

Facing Off
    Nolan Sullivan (.580) finished second in the NCHC for faceoff win percentage.Sullivan went 322-235 in the circle for a .578 win percentage. Omaha was the second ranked team in the NCHC in faceoff winning percentage at .530 percent. 

That's a Plus!    
    Jack Randl led the Mavericks in plus/minus last season with a +13 rating. That's the highest finishing mark of any Maverick since Brian Cooper finished the 2014-15 season with a +14 rating.

Simon Says
    Rookie netminder Simon Latkoczy finished last season 11-6-1. Latkoczy had the third best save percentage in the NCHC at .919%. His 2.32 goals against average was the fifth best mark in the NCHC while his .639 winning percentage was good for 14th in the NCAA. Latkoczy won NCHC and National Goaltender of the Month for January last year.

On Their Best Behavior
    In 37 games, the Mavericks committed 149 penalties, 4.03 per game. That was the least amount of penalties taken among NCHC teams. The next closest team was St. Cloud State with 155.

Media
    Both games can be heard live on AM 1290.  Coverage begins 30 minutes before game time with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show. Mike Vaillancourt has the Play-by-Play duties while Terry Leahy returns for his 27th season to provide color analysis. You can also stream both games on NCHC.tv.

Up Next
    The Mavericks will have an early season bye week following this weekend's series with Niagara. After the bye week, Omaha will welcome No. 14 Ohio State to Baxter Arena.