This Week
    The No. 20 Omaha Mavericks return from the bye week and welcome the No. 16 Ohio State Buckeyes to Baxter Arena in a top-20 series tilt.

The Teams
    The Mavericks opened the regular season with an avenging sweep over the Niagara Purple Eagles two weeks ago to start the 2023-24 campaign 2-0. Omaha outscored Niagara 10-2 in their debut weekend while outshooting them 75-33.
     Ohio State enters the series with a 2-1-2 record on the season. They're coming off a road series against Michigan that saw them fall 7-1 in the series opener and answer with a 2-2 tie in the Saturday finale. The Buckeyes two victories have come against Mercyhurst and Lindenwood. 

Last Time Out
    The Mavericks and Buckeyes last met in October of 2019 in Columbus. The first game saw Ohio State edge Omaha 3-2 with the Mavericks answering back the following night with a one-goal win by themselves, defeating the Buckeyes 2-1.

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.
    Maverick newcomers accounted for four of the eight Omaha goals in the season debut including the first three of the game. Tanner Ludtke, Zach Urdahl, Dom Vidoli and Jesse Lansdell all netted their first goals as a Maverick. The next night, Seth Eisele picked up his first win in Maverick sweater stopping 15 of the 16 shots he faced.

All-Time vs. Ohio State
    The Mavericks and Buckeyes are set for the 38th and 39th meetings all-time between the two teams this weekend. The all-time series is currently 18-14-5 in favor of Omaha and the Mavericks are 11-3-3 when the game is played in Omaha. 

Going to the Polls
    The Mavericks entered the top 20 in the latest USCHO.com poll coming in at No. 20 for the first time this season. The Mavericks were as high as No. 14 last year and finished the campaign at No. 20.

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.

No Sophomore Slump Here
    A trio of sophomore's are leading the Mavericks in points after the first two games. Blueliners Jacob Guevin and Jo Lemay along with Switzerland forward Ray Fust lead the way for Omaha.

Skating for 8
    The Mavericks used eight different goal scorers in their 8-1 victory over Niagara in the season debut. The last time Omaha had eight different goal scorers was Dec. 3, 2020 when they defeated Western Michigan 10-2 and had nine different scorers.

Holy Vidoli
    The Maverick newcomer found the back of the net in his Omaha debut in the season opener against Niagara. His lamplighter extended the Maverick lead to 3-1 in the 1st period. It's his first goal since Nov. 18, 2022.

French Connection
    The sophomore defensive pair of Jo Lemay and Jacob Guevin were a mainstay for the Mavericks on the blueline last season. They picked up right where they left off last season combining for two goals (1 GWG) and five assists over opening weekend. The Duo was a combined +4 over the debut series.

Facing Off
    Nolan Sullivan 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.
    Sullivan went 29-18 (.617%) in the circle last weekend helping the Mavericks go 67-47 (.588%) on the dot for the opening two contests.

Seeing Multiples
    The Mavericks had 6 players register a multi-point game two weekend's ago. Jo Lemay, Ray Fust, Jacob Guevin, Michael Abgrall, Victor Mancini and Ty Mueller all registered multi-point games.

Special Teams
    The Mavericks went 2-12 last weekend on the man advantage with Saturday's game winning goal coming via a power play opportunity. The penalty kill stood tall blanking the Purple Eagles in all six of their opportunities.

Career Numbers 
    Five Mavericks are looking to build off career-best numbers last season.

    Nolan Krenzen - Career highs in goals (1), assists (8) and points (9) in a season 
    Victor Mancini - Career highs in assists (8) and points (8) in a season
    Matt Miller - Career highs in goals (13), assists (12) and points (25) in a season
    Ty Mueller - Career highs for goals (12), assists (13) and points (25) in a season
    Jack Randl - Career highs for goals (18), assists (16) and points (34) in a season

Weekly Awards
    Omaha captured nine NCHC weekly awards last season. Jake Kucharski won NCHC Goaltender of the Week twice (Week 3 & 9). Matt Miler and Jonny Tychonick (Week 20) each earned their respective position of the week awards for Week 9 as well. Ray Fust was the Week 15 Rookie of the Week and Freshman Jacob Guevin was the Week 16 Defenseman of the Week. Simon Latkoczky locked up Week 17 Goalie of the Week honors and Week 18 Rookie of the Week. It's the most weekly award members since the 17-18 season when they had nine as well.
    Lemay secured the Mavericks first weekly award of the 2023-24 season after his two goal, one assist weekend against Niagara. Lemay picked up Week 2 NCHC Defenseman of the Week honors.

The Opponent
    The No. 16 Ohio State Buckeyes enter Baxter Arena at 2-1-2 this season. They defeated Mercyhurst in their season debut and Lindenwood the following Friday in the series opener. The Buckeyes are coming off a 7-1 defeat and a 2-2 tie with Michigan last weekend.

Special Teams
    Ohio State is 4-23 (17.4%) on the power play this season. They have scored a power play goal in four of their five games on the campaign. The Buckeyes are 10-14 on the PK so far this season. Three of the four power play goals they've allowed came in their the last two games against Michigan

The Sin Bin
    Through five games, Ohio State has been guilty of 20 penalties for an average of four per game. That mark currently ranks fifth most among BIG Ten teams. The Buckeyes are averaging 10:12 of penalty minutes a night.

Players To Watch
    Freshman defenseman Theo Wallberg leads Ohio State this season with one goal and four assists in five games played. Wallberg opened up the season with a trio of assists against Mercyhurst.
    Forwards Davis Burnside and Michael Gildon rank second in points for Ohio State with four. Burnside currently leads all Buckeyes in goals with three and Gildon has one lamp lighter with three helpers in four games played.

What's on Tap at Bax
Friday is 90s night with special guests Chris Kirkpatrick of NSYNC and Omaha native and Former MTV host Brian McFayden in house. Saturday is Omaha Hockey parents night and Trick or Treat on the concourse.

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 remain posted at home and open up conference play next weekend against the No. 10 Western Michigan Broncos.