Omaha vs. North Dakota: Jan. 15-16, 2016 in Grand Forks

The Mavs haven't been on the road for a series since late November, but they started the trip to Grand Forks early this week as President Obama's visit to Baxter Arena on Wednesday left them without a place to practice. So they headed up to Sioux Falls and practiced there before going on to Grand Forks.

Sioux Falls rolls out the red carpet for practice. UNO on the road early because of the President's visit. pic.twitter.com/ZcZHKgBL1S

— Maverick Hockey (@UNO_Hockey) January 13, 2016

Evan Weninger's injury in the Denver series last week looks to be a big factor this weekend. Weninger suffered a "lower body injury" (ankle) in the Friday game and didn't make the travel roster. So it will be Kirk Thompson in net for the Mavs on Friday night.

The Mavs are 4-5-1 in conference play -- fifth place in the NCHC (14-5-1 overall) -- after last weekend's sweep by Denver. The Mavs need to steal some points in Grand Forks this weekend, although it's going to be a tough task. North Dakota has more than double the number of conference points as Omaha (27 points for UND to 13 for UNO) and is 9-1-0 in conference (18-2-2 overall).

Here's the round-up of this week's media.

The Mavs dropped from #6 to #9 in the national polls after last weekend. Here's the Omaha World-Herald story about that:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/uno-hockey-drops-to-no-in-rankings/article_8ec2477c-b8c8-11e5-8151-276e63bc6046.html

OMavs.com also has a story about the poll results:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210627117

And here's the OMavs.com story about the weekend series:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210635515

Here's the World-Herald's preview story about the series, with a profile of Kirk Thompson:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/with-evan-weninger-s-injury-uno-hockey-team-glad-it/article_f73d868e-e240-58a8-bdd7-b642a398f3f4.html

With Evan Weninger’s injury, the UNO hockey team is glad it can call on Kirk Thompson. https://t.co/Wv702cycBp pic.twitter.com/2K4gjNLnmO

— World-Herald Mavs (@OWHmavs) January 15, 2016

Game Times:
Friday night's game is at 7:37 p.m. Central
Saturday night's game is at 7:07 p.m. Central

TV Coverage:
Both games will be available on NCHC.tv. Saturday night's game will also be on Fox College Sports (DirecTV Channel 608).

Radio Coverage:
Both games will be broadcast on 1180 AM (1180 The Zone 2). Dave Ahlers will provide radio play-by-play and Terry Leahy will provide color commentary. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on Friday night and 6:30 p.m. Saturday night with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.