This Week
    The No. 17 Omaha Mavericks battle with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the opening round of the NCHC Tournament. The Mavericks finished 3rd in the regular season while the Fighting Hawks placed 6th.

The Teams
    The Mavericks are sitting at 18-13-3 (13-9-2 NCHC) after concluding the regular season last weekend in North Dakota. Omaha is hosting the first round of the NCHC Playoffs for the first time in Baxter Arena history this.
     North Dakota enters this weekend's playoff series with a 16-13-6 (10-10-4 NCHC) record. The Fighting Hawks took 5 of 6 points from the Mavericks in last week's regular season series finale.

Last Time Out
    The Mavericks and Fighting Hawks closed out the regular season against each other last weekend in Grand Forks. On Friday, Omaha erased a pair of 3rd period deficits to force OT but fell in the extra frame, 5-4. Omaha and UND battled to another close contest in the series finale with the Fighting Hawks edging the Mavericks, 2-1.

All-Time vs. North Dakota
    The Mavericks and Fighting Hawks are primed for meetings 53 and 54 this weekend. The all-time series is currently 33-17-2 in favor of UND. When the game is played in Omaha, the all-time series sits at 16-8-1 in favor of the Fighting Hawks.

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. You can also stream both games on NCHC.tv.

Miller Time
    Miller became the 20th player in program history to score goals in four straight games. He joins Jack Randl as the only other Maverick to accomplish that feat this season. His 24 points is a career high for the junior forward. His first two seasons as a Maverick, he posted 13 points. 

Miller Time II
    Miller's clutch gene came out twice last weekend netting two 3rd period game tying goals. In Friday's game, Miller buried the GTG with 32 ticks left in regulation to force OT. He followed that up the next night by netting his second 3rd period GTG at 7:59 of the frame to pull even at 1-1.

Among The National Leaders 
    The Mavericks 22.7 power play percent is good for 17th in the country currently. Omaha has lit the lamp on the power play in nine of their last 15 games. The Mavericks are 13-5-2 when scoring a power play goal.

Among The Conference Leaders 
    Nolan Sullivan (.580) and Jake Pivonka (.554) sit 2nd and 7th respectively in NCHC faceoff win%. Omaha is the top ranked team in the NCHC in faceoff winning percentage at .530 percent. That is good for 12th in the NCAA.

Seeing Multiples
    The Mavericks have had 14 players register multi-point games this season. 1- Bremer, Fust, Lemay, Slipec, Sullivan. 2 - Pennington, Pivonka. 3 - Mueller,. 4 - Guevin. 6 - Berg, Miller, Weis, Tychonick.  9 - Randl.

The Middle Frame
    The Mavericks are outscoring their opponents 46-31 in the 2nd period this season. They have 87 more shots than their opponents, outshooting them 399-312 in the second 20 minutes. The Mavericks are 13-2-1 when leading after 40 minutes of hockey.

Young Guns
    The freshmen defensive pair of Jo Lemay and Jacob Guevin have been a mainstay for the Mavericks on the blueline. The pair has played in 29 games on the blueline together and have registered 4 goals, 22 assists for 26 points. Both landed on the NCHC All-Rookie team this season.

Jonny Rockets
    Graduate defenseman Jonny Tychonick is having the best season of his collegiate career. The Calgary, Alberta native ranks second on the team in points (26) and currently leads all Maverick blueliners in goals (8), assists (18) and points. His previous career high in points was 11, which he set in his sophomore season at North Dakota. Tychonick's 26 points is good for 4th among NCHC blueliners. 

Simon Says
    Rookie netminder Simon Latkoczy is 10-4-1 on the season. He currently holds the second best save percentage in the NCHC at .920%. His 2.25 goals against average is also the second-best mark in the NCHC while his .700 winning percentage sits seventh in the NCAA.

On Their Best Behavior
    In 34 games, the Mavericks have taken 132 penalties, 3.88 per game. That is the least amount of penalties taken among NCHC teams. The next closest team is Colorado College and St. Cloud State with 144.

Responding
    The Mavericks are 4-3-1 this season in the second game of series where they lost the opening game.

Honorable Mention
    Senior Jack Randl and Freshman Simon Latkoczy were announced as Honorable Mention All-NCHC. Randl leads the Mavericks in goals, points, power play goals, plus-minus and game winning goals this season. Latkoczy finished 2nd in both GAA (2.25) & save% (.920) in the NCHC. He registered two shutouts this season, both coming in NCHC play.

The Opponent
    The 6th seed in the NCHC tournament finishing with 33 points, the North Dakota Fighting Hawks are giving up the third most goals per game in the NCHC at 2.91.

Special Teams
    UND holds the top ranked power play (28.6%) in the NCAA. They've scored 42 goals on the man advantage which ranks 2nd in the NCAA. Their penalty kill is ranked 1st the NCHC. The Fighting Hawks are operating at a 82.4 percent kill rate.

The Sin Bin
    In 35 games, UND has committed 158 penalties. An average of 4.51 per game. They average 11:13 per game in the box. They have scored two shorthanded goals this season.

Players To Watch
    Freshman forward Jackson Blake leads North Dakota in points with 40. Blake has 15 goals on the season which is top-10 in the NCHC. His 40 points sits him fourth in the conference.
    Junior forward Riese Gaber leads the Fighting Hawks in goals with 19. His 19 goals ties him for fifth in the NCHC. He is second in the conference for power play goals with 11.