This Week
      The No. 20/19 Omaha Mavericks continue NCHC play and return home to take Baxter Arena to take on the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth.

The Teams
      The Mavericks are coming off a big road weekend against then No. 15 St. Cloud State. In an instant back-and-forth classic, the Mavericks defeated the Huskies 7-6 in overtime in Friday's tilt after erasing multiple two-goal deficits to secure their sixth overtime victory of the season. The two NCHC rivals battled to a 1-1 tie on Saturday night with the Mavericks taking the extra NCHC point in the shootout.
      The Bulldogs bounced Miami in their series opener last weekend 6-2 at home. The following night was a bit tighter as the Bulldogs and RedHawks played to an OT decision that saw UMD scoring the game-winner to take five of six conference points.

Last Time Out
      The Mavericks and Bulldogs battled to a weekend split the first time they saw each other back in December. UMD took the opening night 4-2 with a late empty net goal to ice the game. The following night saw limited scoring as Jack Randl's OT winner solidified Omaha's 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs.

All-Time vs. Minnesota Duluth
      The Mavericks and Bulldogs are set for their 50th and 51st meetings all-time between the two teams this weekend. The all-time series is currently 29-16-4 in favor of Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs hold a slight lead over the Mavericks when the game is played in Omaha. UMD is 12-11-0 all-time against the Mavericks when the game is played in Omaha.

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 catch Friday's game on CBS Sports and stream Saturday's tilt on NCHC.tv.

Up Next
      The Mavericks hop right back on the road to play their final two regular season games against Western Michigan.

Jack Attack
      Jack Randl recorded goals in four straight games from Nov. 25 - Dec. 8. It's the second time he's done that in a Maverick sweater and the 29th time in program history. Since the second half started back up at the Desert Hockey Classic, Randl has found the scoresheet in five of the six games he's played in. He's scored four goals, added three assists and is a +6 in those five games. Randl took over the team lead in goals scored last weekend after burying twice in Friday's series opener against SCSU.

Right in the Muellhouse
      Junior centerman Ty Mueller had a five-game goal streak from 11/4-11/19. With his 2nd period goal in the Sunday game against DU, Mueller became just the sixth player in program history to light the lamp in five consecutive games joining Jeff Hoggan (2001-02), Scott Parse (2005-06), Brandon Scero (2005-06), Ryan Walters (2012-13, twice), Josh Archibald (2013-14).
      Playing in all 24 games, Mueller leads the Mavericks in points with 21 (8-13=21) assists (13) and shots on goal (64).

Close Calls
      When the game comes down to it, the Mavericks have prevailed almost all season long. Omaha is 10-1-0 in one goal games this season. They dropped their first one-goal game in the Desert Hockey Classic final to ASU. The loss also marked the program's first and only OT loss of the year.

Going Streaking
      Tanner Ludtke and Ty Mueller are both riding seven-game point streaks currently. The last time Ludtke and Mueller didn't find the scoresheet was the 4-3 overtime victory in the first game of the Desert Hockey Classic. Over their streaks, Ludtke has four goals and six assists with a +2 rating while Mueller has lit the lamp twice and tallied seven assists with a +2 rating.

Lighting the Lamp First
      The Mavericks have had a favorable outcome this season when scoring the first goal. The Mavericks are 9-7 on the campaign when they strike first and 2-3-3 when allowing the first goal.

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. They currently have the 14th hardest schedule in college hockey.

Leading Ludtke's
      The Ludtke brothers of Griffin and Tanner are second and third in Omaha scoring through 24 games. Both brothers played a role in filling up the scoresheet last weekend. Griffin recorded a pair of assists including the primary helper on his brothers OT game winner on Friday. On top of his OT winner, Tanner tallied two assists and was a +1 over Omaha's four-point weekend.

Pucks on Net
After 24 games, The Mavericks are 9-1-2 when they outshoot their opponents and are 3-7-1 when being outshot on the campaign. Through 13 home games, Omaha is outshooting their opponents 410-367. In 11 road games, Omaha has been outshot 247-319.

Closing out the Weekend
      The Mavericks have lost five Friday night games this year. Their response has been a 3-1-1 record so far after falling in the opening game of the weekend.
      In game 2 of regular season series, Omaha is 6-4-2 in closing out the weekend.

Facing Off
      After 24 games, Omaha is the second ranked faceoff team in the NCHC and is the fifth best squad in the NCAA with a win percentage of 54.7.
      Nolan Sullivan currently ranks 3rd in the NCHC in faceoff winning percentage at 59.8 while Ty Mueller sits 9th with a 54.6 percentage. Sullivan has won 266 draws on the campaign, which is the second highest mark in the conference.

Seeing Multiples
      The Mavericks have had 15 players register a multi-point game this season. Michael Abgrall (1), Brock Bremer (1), Ray Fust (2), Jimmy Glynn (2), Jacob Guevin (1), Jesse Lansdell (1), Jo Lemay (2) Griffin Ludtke (2), Tanner Ludtke (6), Victor Mancini (1), Ty Mueller (4), Kirby Proctor (1), Jack Randl (3), Tyler Rollwagen (1) and Zach Urdahl (1) have all registered multi-point games.

Heating Up
      The Mavericks power play is starting to heat up. Omaha has buried a power play goal in four consecutive games and in five of their last six. Over those six games, Omaha has deposited seven goals on the man advantage. The Mavericks are 8-3-1 on the campaign when lighting the lamp on the power play.
 
The Opponent
      The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs are coming off a home weekend sweep of Miami last week. They downed the RedHawks 6-2 in the opening game of series and finished the weekend with a 3-2 overtime victory. Heading into this series, the Bulldogs sit five points ahead of the Mavericks in sixth place in the pursuit of the Penrose Cup.

Special Teams
      The Bulldogs have the top power play in the NCHC and fourth best unit in the NCAA operating at 28.6 percent. They've scored a total of 24 goals on the power play which is tied for seventh nationally. On the opposite, UMD holds the second-best penalty kill in the NCHC at 83.2 percent.

Players To Watch
      Sophomore forward Ben Steeves leads all Bulldogs in points with 29. His 21 lamp lighters paces UMD while he ranks first nationally in power play goals with 11. Of his 21 goals, five have been game winners.
      Junior Defenseman Owen Gallatin sits second on the Bulldogs in points with 19. Gallatin has five goals and 14 helpers in 25 games played for UMD.
      Senior netminder Zach Stejskal has the third best goals against average in the conference at 2.46. His .914 save percentage ranks second in the NCHC. He's recorded eight of the Bulldogs 10 wins this season and owns one shutout on the campaign.