Omaha vs. North Dakota, Jan. 6-7 at Baxter Arena

Usually, when the defending national champions come to town (especially when they're ranked #7 and the Mavs are in the top 20), you'd see UNO athletics hyping that fact.

Nope. Not this year.

They did do a preview video -- which is very nice -- but there was no mention of UND as defending national champions, or the team rankings.

Tonight, the rivalry continues.#MaverickUprising pic.twitter.com/e9jyAaggls

— Omaha Hockey (@OmahaHKY) January 6, 2017

So, when you see empty seats at Baxter Arena this weekend (or worse, fans in UND apparel), remember that.

The UNO/UND "rivalry" series is always an interesting one, especially at Baxter Arena. The Mavs did claim one game last season -- a shootout win in Grand Forks in mid-January. North Dakota took both games in Omaha in late February last year, but the F'n Hawks this year are not the same team that claimed the championship last year.

North Dakota has a record of 10-6-3 overall and 3-4-1-1/0 in the NCHC, putting them in sixth place in the NCHC. They are ranked #7 in both national polls. UND has been very effective on the road, with a record of 4-3-1 in away games this season.

The Mavs have also been "road warriors," but have had better luck at Baxter Arena recently, having swept Lake Superior State last weekend in non-conference action. The Mavs are 11-6-3 this season and 4-4-0 in the NCHC (fifth place). UNO is #18 in the USCHO poll and "received votes" in the most recent USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

By the way, don't forget that Sunday is Skate With the Mavs.

Media Roundup Leading to the Series:
OMavs series preview:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=211393807&_ga=1.116483779.478938414.1475960606

UND Athletics series preview:
http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=58684&SPID=6405&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211391892&DB_OEM_ID=13500

Tony Boone's Omaha World-Herald series preview:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/hockey/mavs-fired-up-to-face-north-dakota-share-coach-dean/article_6ca087fe-20bf-5f7e-8846-5bda764040fe.html

OMavs weekly news release:
http://www.omavs.com/pdf9/5172323.pdf

Tickets:
This is the one series of the year where tickets are consistently hard to come by.

Friday tickets on Ticketmaster ($20-$27):
http://www1.ticketmaster.com/omaha-mavericks-hockey-v-university-of-omaha-nebraska-01-06-2017/event/06005103EDCDB497?artistid=838151&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=9&f_tmol_checkout=true&f_listview=3&f_display_landing_popup=true&f_sessioncam=1&ab=m_efeat4232Mainv1desktop

Few tickets remain for Friday:

Ticketmaster is showing only 3 seats available for Saturday ($20-$27):
http://www1.ticketmaster.com/omaha-mavericks-hockey-v-university-of-omaha-nebraska-01-07-2017/event/06005103EDD2B49B?artistid=838151&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=9&f_tmol_checkout=true&f_listview=3&f_display_landing_popup=true&f_sessioncam=1&ab=m_efeat4232Mainv1desktop


Ticket Express has tickets available at well above face value ($45-$125) for Friday:
http://www.ticketexpress.com/event/uno-mavericks-vs-north-dakota-baxter-arena-hockey-2017-01-06-7:07-pm-tickets

Ticket Express has a few tickets available for Saturday night ($33-$75):
http://www.ticketexpress.com/event/uno-mavericks-vs-north-dakota-baxter-arena-hockey-2017-01-07-7:07-pm-tickets

There are currently no tickets for sale within the MavPuck Group on Facebook (must be approved for group membership to see the posts), but you can post a "tickets wanted" post:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mavpuck/

Radio/TV Coverage:
Friday and Saturday night's games will be available by subscription ($) on NCHC.tv. 

In addition, Friday night's game is available statewide on NET or via live stream here:
http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/omaha-maverick-hockey-vs-north-dakota

Saturday's game will be telecast live nationally by American Sports Network. There's some confusion on the UNO vs UND news releases on who is doing the play-by-play and analysis. UNO says Dave Ellis will call the game, and Pat Micheletti will provide color commentary. UND's news release says Dave Ahlers will handle play-by-play with analysis from #oldbull David Brisson and Larry Punteney will serve as rinkside reporter. Regardless, it will be televised.

Radio coverage begins with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show at 6:30 p.m. both nights. We know that Terry Leahy will give color commentary and analysis. Who knows about Dave Ahlers (see above).

Live Audio and Stats:
Live audio link here.
Live stats (Friday) here.
Live stats (Saturday) here.

Next Weekend:
The "road warriors" head out again for another conference series, taking on Colorado College in Colorado Springs on Friday, Jan. 13 and Saturday, Jan. 14.