Omaha vs. St. Cloud: Feb. 19-20, 2016 at Baxter Arena

This weekend begins a stretch of four crucial home games for the Mavs -- we're calling it #HomeStretchFOURHomeIce. This weekend, UNO faces #3 St. Cloud State at Baxter Arena.

As Jon pointed out in the Mavpuck Group this week, the Huskies have the nation's top-ranked power play unit, and is a team that has scored a nation-leading 130 goals on the season. However, St. Cloud has struggled a bit on the penalty kill. So if the Mavs can stay OUT of the box, and St. Cloud spends some time IN the box, that bodes well. Of course, another key stat for the Mavs this year is scoring first. So #WearBlackGetLoud!

We're back to normal game times for this weekend too -- 7:07 p.m. starts both nights.

And watch for UNO Student Involvement as you come into Friday night's game. They'll be giving out postcards tonight advertising the Hobey Baker Award voting. If you would like postcards to give out in your section, stop by the ticket box office at 6:30 p.m. and pick up a stack!

The Mavs remained #12 in the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll this week.

Evan Weninger picked up Goaltender of the Week honors from The NCHC:
http://www.nchchockey.com/news_article/show/612422?referrer_id=878553

And Tyler Vesel's SICK goal earned him top honors in this week's NCHC Top 5 Plays of the week:

NCHC Top 5 Plays of the Week - 2/16/16
The NCHC Top 5 Plays of the Week, presented by TRIA Orthopaedic Center, from Feb. 12-13 are up! This week's plays feature four goals and a save off the goal line by a defenseman. See who took the top spot:
Posted by The National Collegiate Hockey Conference on Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Here's the roundup of stories leading up to the series (and post-game coverage links, when they're added).

Here's the OMavs.com preview of the series:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210723911

COOOOOPPPPP!!! Nice article about senior defenseman and captain Brian Cooper from the OWH:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/captain-cooper-versatile-defenseman-produces-on-the-ice-while-being/article_ecf498ee-dab7-5182-8417-9c8f2ce73cfa.html

Series Preview from the Omaha World-Herald:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/mavs-three-closing-series-have-playoff-atmosphere-in-bid-for/article_29341ae7-7415-5ab1-bf8b-57e3cdc3320d.html

Here's the video highlights from Saturday night:

TV 

Coverage:
Friday and Saturday night's games will be televised on NCHC.tv.

Radio Coverage:
The 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 6:30 p.m. both nights with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.