Omaha vs. Colorado College: Nov. 4-5, 2016 at Baxter Arena

What a couple of weeks it has been for Maverick Hockey! The Mavs played what many consider to be their best pair of games in quite some time, and came away with a decisive 5-1 win against then-number 5 UMass Lowell on Friday night, and stayed with the River Hawks through two-and-a-half periods on Saturday, giving up the go-ahead goal with only about five minutes left in regulation. UML then added an empty-net insurance goal to seal the score at 4-2.

This weekend, the Mavs open the NCHC conference play at home against Colorado College. The Tigers have struggled during their time in the NCHC, often finishing at the bottom of the conference standings. Despite this, the Tigers have often had UNO's number -- UNO is 10-6-3 all-time against CC, with most of those victories coming in games in Omaha. The Mavs are 3-2-1 coming into the weekend, and the Tigers are 2-4-0, including a win over New Hampshire two weeks ago. (CC had a bye week last weekend.)

So while it would be easy to predict a UNO sweep this weekend, there are a couple of factors that will likely come into play. One is the absence of Captain Justin Parizek this weekend. He suffered a pre-season concussion and is being held out due to health precautions both Friday and Saturday. Parizek has two goals and two assists in six games played so far in the 2016-17 season, so it will be interesting to see how this impact the Mavs, especially on special teams.

Finally, the other factor impacting the Mavs is something I brought up in last week's series preview -- previous Maverick teams have overlooked lower-ranked so-called "easy" foes, playing down to their competition. In Tony Boone's Omaha World-Herald article this week, the Mavs acknowledged this, and Coach Blais said they know "every point counts" in the toughest conference in college hockey.

Speaking of points, senior Austin Ortega needs just one point become the 15th player in UNO Hockey history to amass 100 career points. He's also chasing the NCAA record for most game-winning goals. He currently has 8 game winners. Ortega needs just two more to set the NCAA record.

The atmosphere should be electric on Friday night, as it's Homecoming for UNO students. UNO graduates are encouraged to stop by the UNO Alumni booth at the game and pick up a free pair of socks too.

Media Roundup Leading to the Series:
OMavs series preview:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=211271326

Colorado College series preview:
http://www.cctigers.com/news/2016/11/2/mens-ice-hockey-tigers-open-nchc-slate-at-omaha.aspx

Joe Paisley's Colorado Springs Gazette preview:
http://gazette.com/tigers-bring-all-three-goalies-on-omaha-road-trip/article/1589380

Tony Boone's Omaha World-Herald series preview:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/hockey/mavs-learned-lesson-last-year-that-every-point-counts-in/article_c25b88e1-dbc0-53e0-9f1d-04f67572ac76.html

OMavs Weekly News Release:
http://www.omavs.com/pdf9/5057719.pdf

Tickets: 
There are plenty of tickets available to this weekend's series, particularly on Saturday night.

Friday tickets on Ticketmaster ($20-$27):
http://www1.ticketmaster.com/omaha-mavericks-hockey-v-colorado-college-omaha-nebraska-11-04-2016/event/06005103EDAAB46A?ATCLID=211271326&SPSID=795013&SPID=135111&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=31400&artistid=838151&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=9&fg=sv&f_display_landing_popup=true&f_sessioncam=1&f_enforce_primary_tt=true&ab=m_efeat2788v4desktop

Saturday tickets on Ticketmaster ($20-$27):
http://www1.ticketmaster.com/omaha-mavericks-hockey-v-colorado-college-omaha-nebraska-11-05-2016/event/06005103EDB0B46D?ATCLID=211271326&SPSID=795013&SPID=135111&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=31400&artistid=838151&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=9&fg=sv&f_display_landing_popup=true&f_sessioncam=1&f_enforce_primary_tt=true&ab=m_efeat2788v4desktop

Ticket Express has Saturday tickets still available ($5-$8):
http://www.ticketexpress.com/event/uno-mavericks-vs-colorado-college-tigers-baxter-arena-hockey-2016-11-05-7:07-pm-tickets

And there are tickets for sale within the MavPuck Group on Facebook (must be approved for group membership to see the posts):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mavpuck/

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

Radio coverage begins with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show at 6:30 p.m. both nights. Dave Ahlers will have the play-by-play, Terry Leahy will give color commentary and analysis, and Lester St. James will report from ice level.

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

Next Weekend:
The Mavericks take their games on the road after being at home at Baxter Arena for three weeks. They will travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on Miami on Friday, Nov. 11 at 6:35 p.m. Central and Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6:05 p.m. Central.

Omaha vs. Vermont: Oct. 21-22, 2016 at Baxter Arena

Coming off the win of the Brice Alaska Goal Rush tournament last weekend (the first team from the lower 48 states to win the coveted "golden bowl"), the Mavs are ranked in the USCHO.com poll (#20) and "receiving votes" in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey poll.

They take on the Vermont Catamounts of Hockey East, who are making their first trip to Omaha. (UNO also played Vermont for the first time last year, sweeping them in Burlington.) Vermont comes into the series 1-1-0 after a split with Clarkson last weekend to open the year. The Mavs are 2-0-0. (The exhibition loss to the University of Alberta does not factor into their record.)

The Catamounts are without four of their captains (two captains and two assistant captains), who are serving suspensions related to their involvement in a player hazing in September. They were suspended for five games, which began with last Friday's game -- and continues through this weekend's series. The players could practice with the team but could not travel for this weekend's series. You can't help but feel optimistic that the loss of these players will be beneficial for the Mavs, but scoring remains a big question mark, despite last weekend's wins. If Jake Randolph can continue feeding his linemates this weekend, though, it bodes well for the Mavs.

Media Roundup Leading to the Series:

Here's the Omavs preview of the weekend:
http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=211240595

Tony Boone of the Omaha World-Herald talks about the impact of Austin Ortega and Jake Randolph in his series preview:
http://www.omaha.com/uno/hockey/as-austin-ortega-and-jake-randolph-go-so-do-mavs/article_1b4f8f52-f9d3-5348-b6ce-d48f21ef6cda.html

And UNO's Maverick Maniacs got a profile by WOWT:
http://www.wowt.com/content/news/Maverick-Maniacs-ready-to-go-crazy-for-another-hockey-season-397910301.html

(Fact check, though: Billy Pugliese didn't score the first UNO goal. James Chalmers did.)

Tickets:
A limited number of tickets are available for the weekend's series.

Friday night ($20-$27):
https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/uno/EN/buy/details/16HOC02

Saturday night ($20-$27):
https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/uno/EN/buy/details/16HOC03

Blue Line Club Member Update:
Blue Line Club members will have access to the arena before it officially opens. The area located near the Blue Line Bar will be open from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. just for BLC members. To gain entrance to the arena before 6 p.m., show your BLC membership card at the MAIN ENTRANCE (by the Baxter Arena Team Shop). After 6 p.m., the arena is open to all. Free popcorn for BLC members will be available at the counter, however, popcorn must be consumed within the BLC area.

BLC members will be on hand to address questions about the One Fund and joining the Blue Line Club. When you submit your application to the One Fund, you must mark "HOCKEY" as one of the recipients of your donation. If you do not select hockey, you will not be considered a BLC member.

Radio/TV Coverage:
Friday night's game will be televised live on American Sports Network, which is available on Channel 42.2 (over the air), Cox Channel 6 (UPDATED INFO!), Centurylink Channel 43 and DirecTV channel 628. Joel Goldberg will have the play-by-play action and Pat Micheletti will provide color commentary. Both games will also be available by subscription ($) on NCHC.tv.

Radio coverage will begin with the First National Bank Pre-Game Show at 6:30 p.m. both nights. Dave Ahlers will provide play-by-play, Terry Leahy will give color commentary and analysis, and Lester St. James will report from ice level.

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

Next Weekend:
The Vermont series begins a three weekend homestand for the Mavericks at Baxter Arena. The Mavs welcome UMass Lowell (also of Hockey East) next weekend, Oct. 28-29. Both games will begin at 7:07 p.m. Central.

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

Watch @UNO_Hockey v. @DU_Hockey, Jan. 8 at 7pm CT / 6pm MT on NET or online at https://t.co/jGqS3UEYg7 #Hockey pic.twitter.com/EWUO0SFUb5

— NET Nebraska (@NETNebraska) December 29, 2015

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.