This Week
    The Omaha Mavericks hit the road for the first team in the regular season this weekend when they take on NCHC rival, the No. 3/2 Denver Pioneers in Colorado.

The Teams
    The Mavericks ended their season-long eight game home stand last weekend with a sweep over the Long Island Sharks. Omaha came away with a 3-2 victory on Friday night and followed that up a 5-4 OT victory to improve to 5-2-1 on the campaign.
     Denver is coming off a road split with Arizona State. On Friday night, the Sun Devils defeated the Pioneers 6-5 in OT. Denver responded the following night by netting eight goals in a 8-4 victory to salvage a weekend split with the new incoming NCHC squad.

Last Time Out
    The Mavericks and Pioneers met only twice last season. The series was played in Denver and it saw both teams coming away with a victory. The Mavericks took care of business in the Friday night game defeating Denver 3-0. The Pios would return the following night to take the series finale from the Mavericks and split the weekend.

All-Time vs. Denver
    The Mavericks and Pioneers are set for their 56th and 57th meetings all-time between the two teams this weekend. The all-time series is currently 37-13-5 in favor of Denver and the Pioneers are 22-4-2 when the game is played in Denver. 

The Moose is Loose
    Saturday, November 4, with 40 seconds remaining in overtime against No. 11 Western Michigan, Junior blueliner Victor "Moose" Mancini netted the OT game winning goal for his first career goal.

Going to the Polls
    The Mavericks are currently the third team out of the USCHO.com poll. They entered the top 20 after their idle week but fell out after a loss and a tie to Ohio State the following weekend. Omaha is receiving votes in both national polls.

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.

Leading Ludtke's
    The Ludtke brothers of Griffin and Tanner are first and second respectively  in scoring through eight games. The sophomore blueliner's seven points is tied for the most points among all Mavericks. He's tallied two goals and five assists on the campaign. .
    Tanner Ludtke's first career goal was the very first goal of the 2023-24 campaign. He's added  another goal and four more assists to bring his season total to six points.

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. Through eight games, they've combined for three goals and eight assists.

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.After eight games, Omaha is narrowly edged by Western Michigan (.549) for the top spot in NCHC in faceoff win percentage at .548 percent. Omaha's faceoff percentage is good for 7th in the NCAA.
    Sullivan currently ranks third in the NCHC in faceoff winning percentage at 60.7 while Mueller sits sixth with a 54.0 percentage.

Seeing Multiples
    The Mavericks have had nine players register a multi-point game this season. Jo Lemay, Ray Fust, Jacob Guevin, Griffin Ludtke, Tanner Ludtke, Michael Abgrall, Victor Mancini, Ty Mueller and Zach Urdahl have all registered multi-point games.

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. Griffin Ludtke earned the second Weekly award of the season for the Mavericks after a one goal, two assist +3 weekend in week 5 against WMU. Like Lemay, Ludtke was also named NCHC Defenseman of the Week. Lemay was named the Week 6 NCHC Defenseman of the Week making it the second week in a row the Mavericks have had a weekly award winner. It's Lemay's second recognition of the season after scoring the OT game winning goal on Saturday night and assisting on two more goals.

The Opponent
    The Pioneers enter the weekend 7-2-1 and are the 3rd/2nd ranked team in the country.Denver is coming off a road split with Arizona State. On Friday night, the Sun Devils defeated the Pioneers 6-5 in OT. Denver responded the following night by netting eight goals in a 8-4 victory to salvage a weekend split with the new incoming NCHC squad. The Pioneers average an NCAA best 5.2 goals per game. 

Special Teams
    Denver is 34/43 (79.1%) on the PK through 10 games played. That ranks 7th in the NCHC with only Minnesota Duluth behind them. On the opposite, Denver has the 2nd ranked power play in the conference converting at 24 percent. That's good for 12th in the NCAA. Denver has scored an NCAA best four shorthanded goals

The Sin Bin
    Denver is the third most penalized team in the NCHC committing 54 penalties in 10 games for an average of 12:42 per game.

Players To Watch
    Denver has the top three scorers in the NCHC in Jack Devine, Massimo Rizzo and Carter King. Devine and Rizzo each have 18 points while King has 15. Devine and Rizzo each average an NCHC best 1.80 points per game.    
    Devine's 10 goals leads the NCHC while Rizzo's13 assists is also a conference best. Rizzo has added 5 lamp lighters while Devine has 8 helpers.

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 return home next Friday to take on NCAA newcomer Augustana and then hop on the road the following night to play the Vikings in Sioux Falls for the series finale.