This weekend, the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks travel to Omaha, Nebraska to take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in an important two-game conference series. This will be UND’s final road trip of the regular season. A sweep either way would be huge.
Both teams are looking for a couple of wins. The Fighting Hawks need two wins to keep pace with the St. Cloud State Huskies. The Mavericks need a couple of wins to improve their Pairwise Rankings to assure they qualify for the NCAA tourney.
The Maverick Players are aware of their Pairwise Rankings but are more concerned about this weekend’s series with the Hawks.
As of late, wins have been hard to come by for the Mavericks. Since January, the Mavericks have experienced a second half swoon and have gone 4-8-0 (.333). The Mavericks are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games and 2-4-0 in their last six games at Baxter Arena. During that time, the Mavericks have been outscored 31-45.
Last weekend, the Mavericks were swept (1-4 L, 3-6 L) by the first place St. Cloud Huskies. I think that it’s safe to say that Hawks are walking into a buzz saw when they travel to Omaha and the Angry Mavericks hockey team awaits the Fighting Hawks.
War on Ice
This is a relatively young series. Head-to-head, there’s only been 18 games played between the two teams. All-time, UND leads series, 10-7-1 (.583) and has a 5-3-0 record in Omaha, Nebraska. With the mood of the Mavericks, records can probably be thrown out the door.
New series or not, the games between the Fighting Hawks and the Mavericks has been a war. Every inch of the ice has been contested. A head coach was thrown out of a game. We’ve also had players drop the gloves at center ice. Every check is finished. There will be dust-ups after the whistle.
In a short period of time, this series has become one that you mark down on your calendar at home. The games are intense, hard-fought and always exciting. Most of the games have been settled by a single goal. Five of the eight games played in Omaha were settled by a single goal. The last two games in Omaha went to overtime, with both teams winning a game. I expect the same thing this weekend.
Series Prediction
Since being in the WCHA and NCHC togehter, UND and UNO have played 8 times in Omaha, NE. As I mentioned above, UND has a 5-3-0 record against the Mavericks in Omaha. There’s been one series sweep during that time. Over the course of the last four games, the series record is tied 2-2. This weekend, UND takes 5-of-6 points.
W: 11/19/10 Omaha 6-5
L: 11/20/10 Omaha 0-1
W: 2/8/13 Omaha 2-1
W: 2/9/13 Omaha 5-2
L: 11/9/13 Omaha 2-4
W: 11/10/13 Omaha 3-2
L: 1/30/15 Omaha OTL 2-3
W: 1/31/15 Omaha OTW 4-3
Links
Candace and Matthew Make their Predicts for the Weekend: USCHO’s NCHC Blog
Brad E. Schlossman gives us his Friday Morning Reading (Grand Forks Herald)
Tuned in to CBS (College Hockey News)
Friday Gameday: Searching for a Sweep (Daddy Dump and Chase Blog)
Catching up with Jake Marto of the Colorado Eagles (Grand Forks Herald)
MEN’S HOCKEY: Chris Wilkie to take on hometown team this weekend (Grand Forks Herald)
A look back: UMD Radio guy Bruce Ciskie has two perspectives on the Bulldogs vs. Hawks series (Link 1) and (Link 2)
Weekend Preview: UND at Nebraska-Omaha (Sioux Sports Blog)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
