Thursday, January 28, 2016

Omaha vs. Colorado College: Jan. 29-30, 2016 in Colorado Springs

The Mavs are looking to rebound from a sweep at Baxter Arena by Miami of Ohio. The Mavs are currently tied for fifth place in the NCHC with Miami. This weekend's opponent, Colorado College, may be at the bottom of the NCHC standings, but they should not be overlooked. The Tigers came back from a four-goal deficit on Friday night, tying North Dakota 5-5. They lost to the F'n Hawks 5-1 Saturday night and will be eager to steal some conference points at home from a banged up Mav team.

The Mavs played without forward David Pope last weekend (and we're not sure if he'll return for this series), and freshman goalie Evan Weninger is expected to return to the lineup this weekend. Weninger was injured in the first period of the Denver series at Baxter Arena and has been out of the lineup ever since. But with the goalie Kirk Thompson injured (broken finger), Weninger is expected to be between the pipes for the Mavs this weekend. The flu bug that affected the Mavs last weekend (forward Tyler Vesel was a late scratch for Saturday night's game) appears to have passed.

The Mavs are expected to have vocal support in the stands this weekend as two busloads of students are on their way to Colorado Springs to cheer on their classmates.
Media Roundup:
Here's the roundup of this week's media:
Here's the Omaha World-Herald article after the weekly polls came out. Mavs dropped to #12 in the USCHO poll and #11 in the USA Today/USA Hockey magazine poll:
http://m.omaha.com/uno/blog/slumping-uno-drops-out-of-top-in-hockey-polls/article_2c63552a-c3b4-11e5-a48b-9b46fe7cad36.html?mode=jqm

OMavs series preview:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210670199

Here's the Colorado College series preview:
http://www.cctigers.com/news/2016/1/27/MHOCK_0127163921.aspx

Omaha World-Herald Friday game preview:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/uno-hockey-team-knows-colorado-springs-is-a-tough-place/article_f2ca867d-5c31-55b5-8a9d-cbf9245d2ec7.html

KETV (Channel 7) series preview:
http://www.ketv.com/sports/uno-hockey-hopes-to-regroup-against-colorado-college/37679088

Colorado Springs Gazette Friday game preview:
http://gazette.com/tigers-top-line-clicking-during-colorado-college-hockeys-recent-uptick-in-play/article/1568830
Friday night game wrap-up from the World-Herald:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/it-s-more-friday-night-plight-for-mavs-at-colorado/article_ca09162a-c710-11e5-b245-3bd5c5928a78.html

Friday night wrap-up from OMavs.com:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210673336

Saturday Omaha World-Herald story ("Mavericks end slump, administer a beatdown"):
http://www.omaha.com/uno/mavericks-end-slump-administer-a-beatdown/article_63d2dad4-c7ca-11e5-9c82-f7e28fedae3d.html

Saturday night wrap-up from OMavs.com:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=210675347

Saturday night story from the Colorado Springs Gazette:
http://gazette.com/colorado-college-tigers-revert-to-poor-outing-get-blasted-by-nebraska-omaha/article/1568971

LOVE THIS! (My favorite Tweet from the weekend!)

Game Times:
Friday night's game is at 8:37 p.m. Central.
Saturday night's game is at 7:07 p.m. Central.

TV Coverage:
Friday night's game will be on CBS Sports (@cbssportsnet). Because of an exclusive agreement with CBS Sports, the game will not be on NCHC.tv. CBS Sports Network can be found on DirecTV channel 221 and Dish channel 158. On Cox Omaha, it's channel 234.
Saturday's game will be on NCHC.tv.

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 8:07 Central Friday and 6:37 Central Saturday with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show.

Where To Watch:
Several restaurants have let us know they will be showing Friday night's game. Here's a listing:

Dudley's Pizza & Tavern, Aksarben Village
Clancy's Pub Omaha (West), 168th and Center
Barrett's Barleycorn, 43rd and Leavenworth (Mobile Mavericks watch party)




Friday, January 15, 2016

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.

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




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.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Omaha vs. Denver University: Jan. 8-9, 2016 at Baxter Arena



The second half of the season starts this weekend as UNO picks up conference play with a series against Denver University. The Pioneers are currently in sixth place in the NCHC with a 3-4-1 conference record, 7-7-4 overall (the Mavs are in fifth place with a 4-3-1 record in conference play, 14-3-1 overall). Both Omaha and Denver have only played eight conference games so far.

But don't be fooled by their sub .500 record. Denver can come into an arena and steal a game or two. This is a big test for the Mavs. A good weekend can preserve the #UndefeatedAtBaxterArena streak and propel the team to next week's HUGE matchup against #1 North Dakota (#1 in the NCHC, and #1 in the country, currently.) The Mavs need to make sure they don't overlook the Pioneers this weekend, though.

Here's a roundup of stories leading up to the series:

UNO remains #6 in the national polls this week, via the Omaha World-Herald:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/uno-hockey-holds-steady-at-no-in-rankings/article_b6e4991c-b337-11e5-94eb-a3054c4517da.html


And junior forward Austin Ortega picked up NCHC Offensive Player of the Week (Dec. 18-Jan. 3) honors for his four-goal performance against Arizona State (he was a healthy scratch in the exhibition game) -- NCHC news release:
http://www.nchchockey.com/news_article/show/595441?referrer_id=878553

Here's the World-Herald preview for Friday night's game:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/mavs-high-scoring-ortega-hasn-t-skipped-a-beat-says/article_f57f7f4d-b4de-59d4-a1e7-5e10a06002e5.html

Denver handed UNO its first loss at Baxter Arena (this will be a trivia question someday).

Here's the Omaha World-Herald write-up from Friday night's loss:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/denver-hands-uno-first-baxter-arena-loss/article_d5e3d832-b67f-11e5-b29c-eb6ad72a99a4.html



And don't forget that Sunday is "Skate With The Mavs" (for kids). Details here.
Note: Each session is limited to 60 participants.

Who: UNO vs. Denver Pioneers
Where: Baxter Arena
When: 7:07 p.m. Friday / 7:07 p.m. Saturday

TV Coverage:
Both games will be available on NCHC.tv.



Friday night's game will air in-state on NET Nebraska. Here's the link to the live stream:
http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/omaha-maverick-hockey-denver-vs-omaha

Radio Coverage:
The games will be broadcast on 1180 AM (1180 The Zone 2). Terry Leahy will provide color commentary both nights. We are waiting on an announcement on who will provide radio play-by-play on Friday night, as Dave Ahlers usually does play-by-play for the TV broadcast. The First National Bank Pre-Game Show will begin at 6:30 p.m. both nights.