February 18, 2010
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Team of the Week: Nebraska-Omaha
CHN Staff Report
A new two-time national championship coach, a dynamic new athletic director, plans to join a new conference next season, and concepts for a new arena.
This was a giddy way to start the season. And going unbeaten (4-0-2) in the first six games of the season only compounded the giddiness.
But it wasn't to last — in fact, wasn't meant to last. That brand new coach did not expect it would.
When Dean Blais came in, he had some work to do. He knew there were plenty of pieces in place, but changing things was going to take some time. Bringing in his players, wouldn't even happen this year.
So after the giddiness wore off, the Mavericks went 6-11-3. In the middle of that, Blais went away to coach the U.S. World Junior team, where he guided a remarkable run to a gold medal. That, however, didn't help UNO.
But just as freshmen are not supposed to be "freshmen" anymore when it gets to their first February, teams in UNO's situation gradually are expected to take off the training wheels — things should start to click.
And for the Mavericks, that has been the case.
Headed into this weekend's showdown with the nation's top-ranked team, Miami, the Mavericks are 6-1-1 in the last eight games, plus a shootout. Included, is last weekend's first-ever two-game sweep of Michigan, 4-3 and 4-1, which earns UNO CHN Team of the Week status.
It has also vaulted the Mavericks to fourth place in the CCHA standings, and at least peeking into the Pairwise listings.
Without "his players" yet available to him, Blais has finally found a working formula with what he has. Similar to how he melded a disparate bunch into World Junior gold medallists, Blais has done this on a less grand scale with the Mavericks.
Last weekend epitomized that. In Friday's game, Joey Martin and Terry Broadhurst scored two goals each as the Mavs won a tight 4-3 battle. Broadhurst is a freshman who was playing OK most of the season, but has suddenly bursted out with 12 points in his last eight games, including four straight multi-point outings (see: training wheels -> off). Saturday, senior plugger Dan Swanson pitched in with his two goals, and the Mavs won 4-1. Both nights, sophomore John Faulkner got the start and win in net, as Blais has been getting the most of him, to fill the void of what started as a very vulnerable area this season for UNO.
Blais' career-long M.O. has been to run-and-gun. He didn't have the horses for that this season, but the last four weeks have seen the culmination of him adapting to his players, and his players adapting to him. Jeric Agosta, a 5-foot-9 sparkplug, has come the farthest. Never having been a goal scorer in the past, this season, as a senior, he leads the club with 14.
The anchor, however, is clearly senior defenseman Eddie DelGrosso. He's always been a rock, but now, as a senior, he's a big-time leader too. He has 22 points, as he seeks to top his personal best for a season, when he was 6-26—32 last year. And his plus-14 is far and away better than anyone on the team.
Keeping the fourth-place spot will be tough for the Mavs. This is UNO's last regular-season weekend, and it has to face No. 1 Miami. Most other teams in the league, have two more league weekends remaining. UNO finishes its regular-season with non-league games against Bemidji State, another Top 10 team. The Mavericks are two points ahead of Northern Michigan with two more games played (and remember, it's three points for a win in the CCHA), and four ahead of Michigan. Alaska is also two back, with the same amount of games played.
But regardless, as the Mavericks prepare for a conversion to the WCHA next season, a foundation is clearly being set. And that still has the power to make everyone in Omaha giddy.
