Coach Mike Gabinet and defenseman Marc Lajoie
at an Omaha Hockey press conference on Nov. 12, 2025
Gabinet and junior defenseman and team captain Marc Lajoie represented Omaha Tuesday during the NCHC’s annual preseason Media Day.
“I think this is our maybe largest returning group in five years just with the guys we have coming back,” Gabinet said. “A lot of those guys were experiencing college hockey for the first time last year.”
That included Lajoie, who came to Omaha last season after playing at the University of Alberta his freshman year. He said Tuesday that the adjustment involved more than moving away from home for the first time.
“Especially in the NCHC, it’s a different level,” Lajoie said. “You’ve got to bring it every single night, and you really can’t take a game or even a period or a shift off or teams will capitalize.”
Gabinet said he can already see a difference in Omaha’s returning players.
“You can just see those guys — even in practice here — putting the work in and just how they’ve improved throughout the offseason (and) into the start of this season,” he said.
He said he also heard it in the players’ exit meetings after last season.
“Just how they’re going to do things a little bit differently, whether it’s in the offseason or preparing at the start of next season, which was great to hear,” Gabinet said.
But Omaha’s nine freshmen and two transfers will be competing for playing time, too.
“I really like a lot of our freshman players,” Gabinet said. “I think you can really see a lot of the hockey intelligence that these guys bring, and they’re instant contributors on the ice when you watch.
“They’re not out of place and they’re not behind other guys. In fact, I think they’ll be pushing for ice time as well.”
Gabinet said Omaha brought its newcomers in earlier this year to give them more time to adjust to college life, a new city, and a new program.
“I feel like we really feel like a team,” he said. “I think we’ve done a lot of work to establish that here early on and then just get everybody up and running with what belonging to a college environment feels like and expectations and standards for the program.”
Age and Size Define the Defense
Two of Omaha’s newcomers bring extensive experience to the blue line.
Jayden Jubenvill transferred from North Dakota and Parker Berge joined the Mavericks from the ECHL, where he played 66 games for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits last year. Berge has 123 games of pro experience after spending four seasons in the WHL. The duo joins a defensive group led by Lajoie.
“I think we’re older back there,” Lajoie said. “Most of us have been in college hockey before, so I think that’s something that’ll definitely help us. It’s not easy playing college hockey, especially in the NCHC.”
Lajoie also pointed to the size of the group.
“Our size is something that we’ll be able to take advantage of,” he said. “We’re a pretty big group back there. So as a (defensive) corps, we’re going to have to play to our strengths, and I’m excited to do that this year.”
Jayden Jubenvill transferred from North Dakota and Parker Berge joined the Mavericks from the ECHL, where he played 66 games for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits last year. Berge has 123 games of pro experience after spending four seasons in the WHL. The duo joins a defensive group led by Lajoie.
“I think we’re older back there,” Lajoie said. “Most of us have been in college hockey before, so I think that’s something that’ll definitely help us. It’s not easy playing college hockey, especially in the NCHC.”
Lajoie also pointed to the size of the group.
“Our size is something that we’ll be able to take advantage of,” he said. “We’re a pretty big group back there. So as a (defensive) corps, we’re going to have to play to our strengths, and I’m excited to do that this year.”
Leading the Mavericks
Lajoie was named Omaha’s 28th Menke Family Captain on Sept. 17.
Gabinet opened Tuesday’s session by praising the job Lajoie has done during training camp.
“He established himself as the leader of our team, and I couldn’t be more grateful for his leadership and to have him involved in this process with us this season,” Gabinet said.
Lajoie described himself as a “lead-by-example” captain.
“I like to try to do things the right way every day,” he said.
But Lajoie said leadership extends beyond the four Mavericks who will wear letters this season.
“I think what’s so special about our leadership group is we have a bunch of different qualities that guys might thrive in,” he said. “Where one guy might lack, we have a different guy that can step up in that role.”
And there are plenty of players on the roster who have been in leadership roles before.
“If you go down a roster and look, half our guys were captains on their junior team before they came here,” Lajoie said. “I think that’s another quality that we have — the leadership.”
Omaha will have a new No. 1 goaltender after the departure of Simon Latkoczy, but sophomore Dawson Cowan got more experience than expected last season when Latkoczy missed time with injuries.
Gabinet said Latkoczy missed about 12 games, giving Cowan “a really good sample size of college hockey.”
He added, “We didn’t want to probably play him that much in that many games in a row, but it’s experience. I think it’s going to really serve him well going into this year.”
Freshman Will Lacelle joins Cowan and returning goaltender Will Craig.
“They’re really competing hard, both goalies and including our third goalie, Will Craig, looking sharp in there,” Gabinet said. “It’s going to be nice to have some good competition early on here and two really good options to play with — a young player coming in with a lot of talent and then obviously with a sophomore coming back with Dawson that’s gained some valuable experience at this level as well.”
The Mavericks open the 2026-27 season with an exhibition game at Air Force on Friday, Oct. 2. Omaha returns to Baxter Arena for an exhibition against Manitoba on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
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