Monday, July 22, 2024

2024-25 Omaha Hockey Roster

The 2024-25 roster is out! Soooo many new names and faces this season! 

Here are a few of the transfer player profiles: 

Aiden Gallacher 

Dylan Gratton 

Sam Stange 

Harrison Israels 

Brady Risk 


Jon has also created a roundup of all 14 of the newcomers this year:

14 Newcomers to the Omaha Hockey Roster (Full Analysis) 




Tuesday, July 16, 2024

𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 ➡️ 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗮 – Austin Rush Leaving Omaha Hockey Program

Austin Rush

Austin Rush, Assistant Athletic Director - Communications (HKY, TF/XC, MTEN), announced on July 16 that he has accepted a new position in the American Hockey League and will be leaving his job at UNO. His last day with the hockey program will be Friday, July 19.

Assistant Director of Communications Anna Watson (WBB, SB, MSOC, SWIM & DIVE, WTEN) will be the new point of contact for the hockey program.

Rush joined the Mavericks in August of 2022 as an Assistant Director of Athletic Communications. He was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director – Communications in June of 2023.

Rush joined Omaha Hockey after working for a year with the Madison Capitols of the United States Hockey League as their Director of Media Relations. While with the Capitols, Rush was responsible for all social media and content creation, player and media relations, curation of the Capitols website and served as the play-by-play voice of the team.

Before joining the Capitols, he spent a year and a half as the Digital Media Coordinator for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Rush worked primarily in content creation and social media during his time with the NCHC.

One of his highlights from his time at the NCHC is when he joined them in Omaha for the NCHC Pod in December of 2020. While in the Pod, he helped create highlight packages from all 39 games, had a hand in running social channels for behind-the-scenes content, took over the ncaaicehockey Instagram for a day and helped get players and coaches to their TV and media responsibilities.

A four-year graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2019. Rush credits his start to working in sports information to his time at UMD. The Plymouth, Minnesota native worked for the UMD Sports Information Department where he directly worked with the UMD men’s hockey team from his sophomore year until graduation.

Update as of August 2024: Rush was named Director of Communications & Broadcasting for the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Omaha Hockey 2024-25 Schedule Officially Released

We’ve been assembling the 2024-25 Omaha Hockey schedule since April 19, but the program released the official schedule today. (We had everything on it except the Dec. 29 home exhibition versus Manitoba, and the opponent — Wisconsin — for the Oct. 5 home exhibition). 

Here’s the official news release:

The Omaha Mavericks have unveiled their full schedule for the 2024-25 season. Omaha finished the 2023-24 campaign with a record of 23-13-4. They secured the program's second winningest season along with its fifth NCAA Tournament berth and first ever NCHC Frozen Faceoff appearance.

Like last season, the Mavericks will open October with an exhibition. The Wisconsin Badgers roll into Omaha on Oct. 5 for the first time since November of 2019. It will be a special night at Baxter Arena as Mike Kemp Ice will officially be unveiled and celebrated. Coach Kemp was a long-time assistant with the Badgers before becoming the head coach at UNO.

The Mavericks officially open the 2024-25 college hockey season at the 2024 Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. Omaha draws Massachusetts in the opening game of the tournament on Oct. 11. They'll finish the weekend with either host team Minnesota or Air Force the following night. The Mavericks will return home to battle Augustana on Oct. 18-19 and will wrap up October on the road against Minnesota State on the 25-26. It will be the first time the two Maverick squads have played each other in the regular season since October of 2015.

Following their Minnesota State series, Omaha will break for a bye week before opening up NCHC play with Western Michigan, Nov. 7-8. The series will also mark the celebration of UNO's 2024 Homecoming weekend. Omaha gets their first look at Arizona State as an official member of the NCHC the following weekend in Tempe, Nov. 15-16. The Mavericks return home to play the RedHawks of Miami on Nov. 22-23. During the series finale on Saturday the 23rd, Omaha will host their annual Military Appreciation Night in partnership with WoodmenLife.

The Mavericks meet St. Cloud State on the road for their opening series of December. They'll battle the Huskies in St. Cloud, Minn. on Dec. 6-7. Omaha heads back to Baxter Arena the following weekend to take on Lindenwood for the first time in program history Dec. 13-14. Omaha will break for the holiday and return to action on Dec. 29 in a home exhibition against Manitoba. The final contest of 2024 against the Bison will serve as Season Ticket Holder Appreciation Night.

The Mavericks open the new year in Palm Springs for the inaugural Cactus Cup hosted by UMass Lowell. Omaha will face Holy Cross in the first game of the tournament before playing Lowell or Michigan Tech the next night. A highly anticipated series against Colorado College is next up for the Mavericks at home January 10-11. Omaha wraps up January on the road against Miami (Jan. 17-18) and St. Cloud State at Baxter Arena (Jan. 24-25).

The Mavericks will meet the defending national champion Denver Pioneers Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in the Mile High City. They'll return to Baxter Arena to face the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 7-8 and then hop right back on the road against Western Michigan, Feb. 14-15.

Omaha's final home series of the regular season will be against Arizona State on Feb. 28 and March 1. The Friday night game of the ASU series will serve as the Leap-for-a-Cure night in partnership with Methodist. Lastly, they'll face a familiar foe in North Dakota for their regular season series finale in Grand Forks, March 7-8.