Thursday, January 16, 2025

Series Preview: Omaha at Miami (OH), Jan. 17-18, 2025

 


By Bridget Brooks 

After sweeping conference foe Colorado College, Omaha Hockey is back on the road again, traveling to Oxford, OH to take on the Miami RedHawks.

The RedHawks have struggled in conference play, generating a single point in a tie (overtime loss) to St. Cloud on Nov. 8. They have been swept in conference series with Minnesota Duluth, Omaha, North Dakota, and Denver. Miami's overall record is 3-15-2 and 0-10-0 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). In Denver last weekend, Miami lost 4-1 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday.

Omaha is 10-10-0 (6-4-0 in NCHC play). The team’s most recent series came against Colorado College at Baxter Arena on Jan. 10-12. The Mavs swept the Tigers 5-2 and 3-1.

Graduate forward Harrison Israels met with the media ahead of the series with the RedHawks.

Asked about the sweep of Colorado College and the momentum it provides the team, Israels said, “We’ve had some ups and downs, but I think just the way our team has continued to build, it really showcases that.”

“That was some of our best hockey all year,” he added. “So I think it’s a good confidence builder for us as a group, and especially heading into a big weekend against Miami.”

He said the team isn’t taking the RedHawks lightly, despite their record. “I think the biggest thing in college is — any given night, anybody can beat anyone,” Israels said. “Every team in this league is good, and Miami’s got a lot of talent on their team.” 

“We (have) to be focused. We (have) to be on our game. It’s going to be a good battle — Friday, Saturday — but we’re looking forward to it,” he added.

The Israels-Brady Risk-Myles Hilman line combined for 10 points on the weekend. “Me and Brady have played together for a long time, so I kind of understand where he wants to be, and where he usually is on the ice. And I think he kind of thinks the same with me. And then adding Myles for the past few games has been awesome,” Israels said. 

Israels was once told he wouldn’t play beyond high school. “It definitely motivated me for sure. You always like to look back and kind of hit them with, ‘Well, you were wrong.’ It’s cliche to say the journey is the best part. But the best memories have been in spots where I didn’t think I was going to end up,” Israels said. “It’s funny how hockey works. Sometimes it just happens. But as you continue to work and just get better, good things can come your way. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Coach Gabinet said the Israels/Risk/Hilman line was “a big part of why we were able to get two big wins this past weekend.”

“Israels and Risk have played together in the past, and adding Myles to that line just brings a little bit of youth and some forechecking ability. There is some speed, some strength. They’re playing well together, which is great to see,” he added.

He said the Mavs would be ready for the upcoming series versus the RedHawks. “We’re going to make sure we’re finding ways to get better this week and keep growing, and be ready to go this weekend.” 

“It’s just important to stay with a laser focus on trying to improve and trying to get better, and preparing for the weekend.”

With six NCHC conference points on the line, both teams know how important the series will be. Omaha is currently tied with Denver for fourth place in the NCHC. Miami is ninth place in the conference.

“Every game is a playoff game for us,” said Miami coach Anthony Noreen at his team’s weekly press conference.

“If there’s any game that we’ve had a really bad taste in our mouth about — that we’ve played this entire year — it’s that Saturday night game in Omaha,” Noreen said.

RedHawks are one of the most penalized teams in the nation (taking an average of 5 penalties a game). Omaha has had difficulty capitalizing on the power play this season, converting on just 10 of 73 opportunities (.137). 

Series preview articles:

Miami RedHawks Hockey:

When:
> Friday, 6:05 p.m. CT at the Steve Cady Arena (Oxford, OH)
> Saturday, 6:05 p.m. CT at the Steve Cady Arena (Oxford, OH)

Radio:
Both games will be broadcast live on 1290 AM and on The Varsity Network app. Pre-game coverage begins 30 minutes prior to face-off with the FNBO Pre-Game Show. “Voice of the Mavs” Mike Vaillancourt will have the play-by-play, with color commentary provided by Terry Leahy.

TV:
Both games will be streamed on NCHC.tv ($) 
Providing commentary on the NCHC feed will be Greg Waddell with play-by-play and Drew Davis with color commentary. 

Live Stats:
Live stats can be found here



In this week’s episode of the MavPuckCast, Jon and Jason discuss the Omaha Maverick Hockey team’s recent sweep of Colorado College at Baxter Arena. The podcast includes video clip highlights and their picks for “Player of the Week.” They talk about some “Things You Missed at Baxter Arena.” They discuss the current National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) standings, and where UNO sits currently. They conclude the episode with their preview and predictions for Omaha’s upcoming series against the Miami (OH) RedHawks at Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, OH.



Next up: Omaha returns to Baxter Arena for a two-game series against St. Cloud State University in NCHC conference action on Jan. 24-25. Both games will start at 7:07 p.m.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

2000 Maverick Hockey Awards Banquet

2000 Maverick Hockey Awards Banquet 


Below is a list of the Maverick players that won awards the the 2000 UNO Mavericks Hockey Awards Banquet

The 7th Man Award
This award goes to the UNO Maverick player who best exemplifies team spirit, dedication, work ethic, ability to overcome adversity and who has contributed most ove the course of the season.

Winner - Jeff Edwards

The Student-Athlete Award
This award goes to the current UNO Maverick player who best exemplifies academic excellence while contributing to the team's overall success on the ice.

Winner - Daniel Samuelsson

The Most Improved Player Award
This award goes to the UNO Maverick player who has shown the most improvement in individual skills and team perfromance during the past season, by a vote of his teammates.

Winner - Joe Yurecko

The Most Valuable Player Award
This award goes to the UNO Maverick player who, in the eyes of this teammates, has contributed the most to the team's success over the past season.

Winner - Jeff Hoggan



Information retrieved from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. 

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Friday, January 10, 2025

Line Chart – Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 – Omaha vs. Colorado College

Friday, Jan. 10, 2025

Omaha vs. Colorado College at Baxter Arena

Final: 5-2 Omaha








Thursday, January 9, 2025

Series Preview: Omaha vs. Colorado College, Jan. 10-11, 2025


Omaha Hockey (8-10-0, 4-4-0 in conference) will face No. 13/14 Colorado College (10-7-1, 4-3-1 in conference) in the first NCHC conference series of the second half of the 2024-25 hockey season after finishing as runners-up in the 2025 Coachella Valley Cactus Cup last weekend in Palm Desert, California.

The Tigers started out the season hot, but have lost five of their last six games. They were swept by Augustana last weekend in Colorado Springs. (Omaha was also swept by Augustana earlier this season.)

Colorado College has a “scoring by committee” offense this season. Eleven Tigers have at least seven points this season. The team’s leading scorer is graduate transfer defenseman Ty Gallagher with 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists). The Tigers roster features nine players who are NHL draft picks.

Omaha’s leading scorer is graduate forward Sam Stange. Stange has 8 goals and 5 assists on the season. Fellow Wisconsin native Zach Urdahl has 7 goals and 3 assists, while junior forward Cam Mitchell is third on the team in points with 5 goals and 3 assists. (All five of Mitchell’s goals were scored in the last 8 games, including last Friday’s game-winning goal in overtime against Holy Cross.)

Mitchell was the featured player at the weekly press conference on Jan. 8. He appeared in 13 games for the Mavericks during the 2023-24 season, recording just a single assist. “The coaching staff and I had a long chat of just finding my game and finding that identity piece of my game,” Mitchell said.

Omaha has a 30-15-7 advantage in the series against the Tigers. The Mavs are 16-5-5 versus Colorado College in Omaha. 

The teams played two series during the season last year. This is the only scheduled matchup for the two teams this season. 

During the regular season series at Baxter Arena last year, Omaha won the first game 3-0 and tied the Tigers 1-1 in the series finale. 

The Mavericks went on the road to Colorado Springs for the first round of the NCHC playoffs, coming back to win a best-of-3 series to advance to the team’s first-ever Frozen Faceoff appearance at the XCel Energy Center in St. Paul. 

A close contest wouldn’t be much of a surprise... 12 of Colorado College’s games this season have been decided by one goal or less.

“We know we’ll get a good team coming here this weekend,” Coach Gabinet said at this week’s press conference. 

Special teams will likely be a factor: The Tigers are 10th in the nation on the penalty kill (87.9%). Opponents are 2-for-22 on the power play in the last seven games versus the Tigers. 

The Mavericks’ power play has been anemic as of late. The team went 0-for-9 on the power play during the Cactus Cup and allowed 3 power play goals.

Gabinet said the coaches continue to tweak the power play. “Coach Dave Noel-Bernier kind of revamped things a little bit even more this week. When it’s struggling like that, it’s good to look at it and make changes and keep trying new things and new combinations of personnel to try to get a jump start.” 

Mitchell said the Cactus Cup experience was good for the team. “We always talk about good teams always finding a way to win. You know, hard games and close games. We found a way down the stretch to get it done. So that was a big momentum thing for us as a group for the rest of the year and for that weekend.”

He said the series should be exciting. “We’re building up a pretty good rivalry with them. Every time we play them, they’re usually pretty close and hard games.”

“We got the right guys, and we got the right game plan as well,” Mitchell said. “I think as long as we execute our game plan, and we want it more than we should, we’ll be able to get the job done.”

Fun Fact: Colorado College head coach Kris Mayotte was an assistant coach at Providence College when the Friars beat the Omaha Hockey team 4-1 in the Frozen Four semifinals in 2015. 


>> Watch this week’s full press conference:

 

For Fans Attending the Game in Person: 

The west lot outside of the main entrance at Baxter — Lot 25 — is open to donors only (parking passes are required to park in that lot). The north lot — Lot 27 — offers free parking on a first-come, first-served basis, as does Lot 26 (west of the arena, across the creek). Omaha Athletics is also encouraging fans to park in one of the public garages at Aksarben Village.


Fans should arrive early, especially if entering via the west entrance. Have digital tickets ready to scan in the Omaha Mavericks app (or add them from your MyMavs account to your phone’s wallet app). If you have questions, stop by the box office at Baxter Arena before the game or call 402-554-MAVS.

The clear bag policy remains in effect at Baxter Arena, and metal detectors are in place at all entrances. All concession stands are credit/debit card only (no cash).

Blue Line Club members and Maverick Room pass holders may enter the arena 90 minutes before puck drop. (Learn more about how to become a Blue Line Club or Maverick Room pass holder here.) 

Promotions:

Saturday, Jan. 11

Princess and Superhero Night 

Dress like your favorite princess or superhero.

Series preview articles:

Omaha.com ($):

Omavs.com:

Colorado College Hockey:

Hurrdat Sports:

When:
> Friday, 7:07 p.m. CT at Baxter Arena (Omaha, NE)
> Saturday, 7:07 p.m. CT at Baxter Arena (Omaha, NE)

Radio:
Both games will be broadcast live on 1290 AM and on The Varsity Network app. Pre-game coverage begins 30 minutes prior to face off with the FNBO Pre-Game Show. “Voice of the Mavs” Mike Vaillancourt will have the play-by-play, with color commentary provided by Terry Leahy.

TV:
The game will be streamed on NCHC.tv ($) 

NOTE: If you subscribe to NCHC.tv, choose OMAHA as your home team and the program will receive 80% of your subscription fee for new subscriptions (as well as renewals).

Live Stats:
Game stats will be available here.


On this episode of the #MavPuckCast, Jon and Bridget discuss the Omaha Maverick Hockey team’s recent trip to Palm Desert, California, to play in the inaugural Coachella Valley Cactus Cup. Includes video clips and their picks for “Player of the Week.” They talk about some “Things You Missed at the Cactus Cup” — including a photos and videos from their trip to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Laguna Beach, and the tournament at Acrisure Arena. They conclude the episode with their preview and predictions for Omaha’s upcoming NCHC hockey series against the Colorado College Tigers at Baxter Arena.

 

Next up: Omaha Hockey heads to Oxford, Ohio for a series against Miami (OH) Jan. 17-18. Omaha’s only sweep so far this season came against the RedHawks.

Follow MavPuck: 

Friday, January 3, 2025