By Bridget Brooks
The Omaha Hockey team has won six straight and is headed to Colorado to try to make it eight straight. The Mavericks are taking on the defending national champions in Denver on Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1. It is the only regular season games scheduled between the two teams this season.
No. 5 Denver is currently tied for fourth place in the NCHC with North Dakota. Omaha is in second place, one point out of first place (behind Western Michigan).
Omaha is averaging 2.9 goals a game (while holding opponents to 2.2 goals/game). Denver is scoring an average of 3.8 goals a game and holding opponents to 2 goals/game. Something has to give.
Junior goaltender Simon Latkoczy, fresh off his third NCHC Goaltender of the Week honors, is expected to get the start in net. Latkoczy has a 2.22 goals against average this season, with a .935 save percentage. He is on the Mike Richter Award watch list and is a Hobey Baker candidate. He recorded his 40th and 41st career victories against the SCSU Huskies.
Nine players have played all 24 games for the Mavericks this season: Brock Bremer (F), Dylan Gratton (D), Jacob Guevin (D), Harrison Israels (F), captain Nolan Krenzen (D), Griffin Ludtke (D), Brady Risk (F), Tyler Rollwagen (F), and Sam Stange (F). Eight of the nine had points in last weekend’s series versus St. Cloud State (all except Gratton).
Denver is 18-6-0 overall (7-5-0 in NCHC play), and are coming off a split with Minnesota-Duluth in Duluth last weekend. The Pioneers lost 4-3 on Friday, with sophomore goaltender Freddie Halyk getting his second start of the season. Denver won 2-1 Saturday behind the play of senior goaltender Matt Davis (in Coach David Carle’s 250th game as the boss bench for DU).
Friday night at Magness Arena the UNO Alumni Association will host a “Mavs on the Move” event.
Omaha is 14-10-0 overall, and 10-4-0 in the NCHC. Omaha swept St. Cloud in Omaha, winning 6-3 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday.
Last season, Denver won the season series with Omaha three games to one, splitting in Denver (winning 8-4 Friday, losing to Omaha on Sunday 4-3 after the Saturday night game was delayed to Sunday afternoon due to a problem with the ice), and sweeping the Mavericks 6-3 and 6-2 at Baxter Arena last season.
The Pioneers are 9-2-0 at Magness Arena this season.
Captain Nolan Krenzen and Coach Mike Gabinet met with the media ahead of the Denver series.
“We’ve made a choice on what our heart is going to be. Winning is hard, losing is hard. The group has made (the) hard choice to show up,” Krenzen said. “When things are going wrong, you can try and blame it on something, or you just have to stay consistent and keep showing up.”
Krenzen said fan and family support have been important to the team this season. “There’s (so) many people, and they’re loud, and the atmosphere is hard for other teams to come in (and play in), and it’s awesome for us.”
“I have the privilege to see my parents pretty much every weekend. Not a lot of players can say that, so I try (not) to take it for granted, because I know eventually that won’t be the case,” he added.
He said Denver is “obviously very offensively skilled (and) they have good structure. But ultimately, it’s our game and what we need to focus on. And I think if we stay committed to our structure and our game plan, we’ll do well.”
Krenzen said he doesn’t look at the standings. “It might be in the back of your mind, but it’s not the main focus. It’s good to have goals as a team, but this late in the season, I think it’s just about us and the way we want to play and show up.”
He said he will do whatever he can to help the team. “I don’t like to get scored on. That’s the one thing — if I get scored on the ice, that’s not a good game for me, if that happens a lot. So that’s what I like to focus on. I think that helps, ultimately, the team win, if I can play that way. So that’s what I strive to do.”
Coach Gabinet had high praise for his captain. “He’s just a stand-up individual, (a) high character person. Hockey aside, he does the right things consistently. (He’s) very low maintenance to coach … just takes care of himself on ice, takes care of himself off the ice, does extra … always in shape … always prepared.”
Gabinet says offensive production will be important in the upcoming series. “We harped on defense a lot early in the year knowing that we can’t afford to give up too many goals against, and now it’s been nice to focus a little bit more on offensive development,“ Gabinet said. “Even in practice, you can see guys getting better on both sides of the puck. (It’s been) nice to see some of those guys really find their offensive mojo in the second half (of the season).”
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