The Inaugural Series at Baxter Arena (UNO vs. Air Force) -- Oct. 23-24, 2015

Wow, what a week it's been for UNO Hockey! In this blog post, I'll round up some of the honors and awards accumulated by individual players and the team this week, provide links to the preview articles about the series, and give you info about pre-game and gametime activities scheduled for this weekend's inaugural weekend at Baxter Arena. (And then after the series, I'll post links to the coverage from the games themselves.)

First, the honors:
UNO achieved its highest-ever poll rankings this week -- for the first time ever, we were ranked #1 in the USA Today/US College Hockey Magazine's poll. We were #2 in the USCHO poll (which is the one that NCAA Ice Hockey uses for their weekly graphic).

Here's the #1 ranking from USA Today/US College Hockey Magazine (week 3):

Here's the #2 ranking from USCHO:

Austin Ortega picked up honors as The NCHC Offensive Player of the week. He has five goals (three of them game winners) and one assist in four games played.

He was also named Warrior Hockey's "Player of the Week":

Ortega's goal earned him the #1 spot in the NCHC Top 5 Plays of the week (week of Oct. 13-17):

http://www.nchc.tv/nchc/video/nchc-nchc-top-5-plays-of-the-week---s3,-episode-2-10-20-15

(starts at the 1:25 mark)

Nominate a play this weekend to the NCHC Top 5 Plays of the week by using the hashtag #NCHCTopPlay on Twitter.

And College Hockey News named UNO its "Team of the Week."

Here's the preview stories:
Here's a story KMTV did about the #1/#2 ranking:
http://www.kmtv.com/news/local-news/uno-mavs-hockey-team-1-in-poll-fans-ecstatic?autoplay=true

USCHO did a story about the opening of Baxter Arena:
http://www.uscho.com/2015/10/22/home-at-last-omaha-opens-baxter-arena-as-one-of-the-top-teams-in-college-hockey/

Tom Shatel talks UNO Hockey:
http://www.omaha.com/sports/shatel-thanks-to-keen-thinking-cu-soccer-nu-volleyball-and/article_86a6fd2f-dd26-597a-8626-b8659a41c1e7.html

OMavs preview article about the series:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210442034

Air Force preview article about the series:
http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/102115aaa.html

Omaha World-Herald preview article about Friday's game:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/in-a-week-of-firsts-uno-hockey-is-trying-to/article_6fbf1f1f-f527-544a-8f13-d60c6ae83152.html

KETV story about the opening of the new arena:
http://www.ketv.com/news/mavericks-opens-baxter-arena-against-air-force/36005562?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=FBPAGE&utm_campaign=KETV%20NewsWatch%207&Content%20Type=Story

Colorado Springs Gazette preview story about the series:
http://gazette.com/air-force-hockey-hoping-to-spoil-top-ranked-nebraska-omahas-arena-opening-party/article/1561778

"The Bottom Line" (OWH podcast) previews the opening of Baxter Arena:
http://www.omaha.com/sports/blogs/tbl-tony-boone-talks-uno-hockey-baxter-arena-the-crawford/article_f0013406-79cd-11e5-b2aa-23893491be91.html

Original UNO Hockey beat writer Eric Olson (now of the Associated Press) writes about the impact of Baxter Arena and the changes in the UNO Athletic Department since 2009 (article appeared in the San Luis Obispo newspaper):
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/sports/article41286288.html

OMavs story about Friday night's win:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210447114

College Hockey News box score of Friday's game:
http://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20151023/afa/uno/

Omaha World-Herald story about Friday night's game:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/uno-opens-baxter-arena-with-victory-over-air-force/article_6b2a204e-79fa-11e5-900c-e3ce8f9897e8.html

Omaha World-Herald story about the pre-game program:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/notes-alberts-dedicates-arena-to-uno-students-former-a-d/article_cb69cd99-4011-5063-a181-60b476694a91.html

Omaha World-Herald video of the Frozen Four banner raising:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/blog/video-mavs-open-baxter-arena-raise-frozen-four-banner/article_1b298d76-79ed-11e5-9137-8b3802df6974.html

Cool Omaha World-Herald video (with some time-lapse moments) of the opening of the arena:
http://studio.omaha.com/?ndn.trackingGroup=91341&ndn.siteSection=omahawh_spt_ncaa_sty_pp&ndn.videoId=29852042&freewheel=91341&sitesection=omahawh_spt_ncaa_sty_pp&vid=29852042

Tom Shatel shares his thoughts about the first game at Baxter Arena:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/shatel-uno-hockey-opener-brings-more-than-its-share-of/article_f0407b59-d38e-5c8b-aece-90545b724711.html

Here's a time lapse video of the pre-game festivities Friday night:



OMavs story about Saturday's sweep:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210449428

College Hockey News box score of Saturday's game:
http://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20151024/afa/uno/

Omaha World-Herald story about Saturday night's sweep:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/no-letdown-mavericks-bring-opening-weekend-to-a-close-by/article_9bc314f0-7ac1-11e5-8ce7-23514cda1220.html

Dirk Chatelain included the opening of Baxter Arena as part of his "one-drous" night story:
http://www.omaha.com/sports/chatelain-crawford-provides-the-capper-to-a-one-drous-omaha/article_11686c84-f0b4-5bc6-bbdc-77a0d166dbb5.html

Stuff you need to know about the game!
First, UNO has released a special app for Baxter Arena, called "Mav Experience." Read about it here:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/uno-s-baxter-arena-app-is-among-first-of-its/article_3d35b13a-da0d-50a4-a127-9e3e40b68227.html

Parking woes are sure to be an issue for the first series, despite UNO's efforts to get the word out about alternate routes to Baxter Arena and parking options in Aksarben Village. Check out this story about parking options for Baxter Arena:
http://www.unomaha.edu/athletics/arena/parking-information.php

UNO prepared this PDF to address parking/tailgaiting and traffic info:
http://www.omavs.com/pdf9/3999311.pdf

Get to Aksarben Village early and celebrate with other fans at Dudley's Pizza & Tavern's #GetYourGameFaceOn pre-game party! The event starts around 4 p.m. with a photo booth, face painting, emcee/DJ Shif-D, and Q&A with #oldbulls Mark Bernier, Kendall Sidoruk & Dan Swanson. Check out Dudley's new Game Day menu!

More details here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/464718103728518/

Also, Dudley's is the "Home of Maverick Hockey" -- they will have live streams (or live TV coverage) of ALL UNO Hockey games, both home and away, during the 2015-16 season. Check out their website here.

Still need tickets for the series? The games are sold out, but you can find tickets here:
Friday tickets
Saturday tickets

Here's how student tickets will be handled (fun YouTube video!)
https://youtu.be/XBeWj9FJnSo

Doors will open on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. We haven't heard an official "start time" for the pre-game activities, but there will be approximately 50 minutes of speeches, ceremonial puck-dropping, and Frozen Four banner-raising. (Estimated puck drop is 7:42 p.m.)

Jim Cornelison will sing the National Anthem:

The Mavs are happy to welcome Jim Cornelison to Baxter Arena on Friday for the National Anthem. Please sing along. https://t.co/vHpSSzMiny

— Maverick Hockey (@UNO_Hockey) October 21, 2015

So get to your seat early, wear black, and GET LOUD! #WearBlackGetLoud

There will be an inaugural night t-shirt that will be available for purchase in the Baxter Arena Team Store. Short-sleeve shirts are $22; long-sleeve are $29, and hoodies are $45. The team store opens at 2 p.m. on Friday.

It's also Parent's Weekend.

Baxter Arena ticket policy re: children:

• Children 2 years and under are free (no ticket required) if they sit on a ticketholder's lap.
• If the 2-year-old wants their own seat, they need a ticket.
• Over 2 years old must have a ticket.

And one important note from UNO:
Once your ticket has been scanned, there is NO RE-ENTRY of the arena. So bring everything you need the first time!

If you want to gear up for the game, visit Lawlor's main location at 84th & J. Tell them you want the "Mavpuck discount" and you'll save 10% on your entire purchase (through 10/31/15).

TV Coverage:
Friday night's game will start at 7 p.m. on NCHC.tv and at 7:30 p.m. on American Sports Network, which is channel 42.2 (over-the-air), Cox Channel 121. It's also on Centurylink Channel 43. DirecTV will also have the game on Friday night channel 628-1 and Saturday morning at 2:30 a.m. on Channel 681. Jim Rich will do play-by-play and Pat Micheletti will provide color.

Radio Coverage:
Both games can be heard live on 1180 The Zone 2 (1180 AM). Dave Ahlers will do play-by-play, and Terry Leahy will handle color. Lester St. James will provide ice-level reports. The radio show should begin at 6:30 p.m.

You can also tune into Mavradio.fm to hear the student call of the game. Noah Sullinger and Matt Barros will have the action for you!

And, just for fun, here's a time lapse of "the building of Baxter Arena" -- not construction, but "a day in the life":
https://hdr.wistia.com/medias/zq0bzwof1d