Jordan McAlpine, Sports Reporter
OMAHA, Neb.- After winning four of their final six games to close out the regular season, the Omaha Mavericks will head to Kalamazoo, Mich. this weekend for the opening round of the NCHC playoffs.
No. 19 Omaha enters the best-of-three series fresh off a 4-1 win over No. 4 North Dakota and the Mavericks are heating up at the right time. Omaha swept then-No. 8 St. Cloud State and split with No. 3 Denver and UND over the last three weeks, taking 13 of a possible 18 points in that stretch. They’ll face another ranked opponent this weekend at No. 7 Western Michigan.
“Solid weekend last weekend by our group and excited to get playoff started here this weekend,” said Omaha head coach Mike Gabinet. “Looking forward to heading to Western Michigan to play that three-game series.”
The Mavericks and Broncos have met once already this season as the two teams split a series in Kalamazoo back in December. Omaha goaltender Isaiah Saville made 41 saves in the second game of that series as the Mavericks earned a 1-0 win over then-No. 4 Western Michigan.
Omaha (21-15, 11-13) finished the season sixth in the NCHC standings with 32 points. As for Western Michigan (22-10-1, 14-9-1), the Broncos have been one of the biggest surprises in both the conference and country. WMU racked up 43 points, good for third place in the NCHC, and the Broncos are fifth in the pairwise rankings, which determine the NCAA Tournament.
It’s been the norm for most of the second half, but Gabinet and the Mavericks know they’ll have to be ready for yet another top-ranked opponent this weekend.
“Just lots of quality opponents,” Gabinet said of the last three weeks. “Western is fifth in the pairwise right now and St. Cloud, Denver, North Dakota and Western- obviously four very good opponents here. So, nice to have that success against those teams and to build some momentum and some belief here in the second half. And again, our guys are just putting a lot of work in and showing up every day finding ways to get better.”
After getting swept at Miami, a team that had just one conference win coming into that series (also against Omaha), the Mavericks looked dead in the water. A team that reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in program history last March, expectations were high coming into this season. However, Omaha’s season and tournament hopes were hanging by a thread.
The Mavericks fell out of the top-20 rankings for the first time since Nov. 30, 2020, were 4-8 in the second half, and had a gauntlet of a schedule awaiting them. Instead, they returned to Omaha and responded by playing some of their best hockey of the season.
The one thing that was missing at times this season has been on full display the past three weeks- consistency.
“You can feel that consistency coming,” Gabinet said. “I feel like our structure and consistency is really taking a step in the right direction, and (I) thought Saturday up and down our lineup everybody played well. And as I’ve said from day one, we’re a team. When you can look up and down your lineup card and everybody’s contributing and playing well, good things happen.”
The Mavericks will need that consistency once again this weekend as they look to keep their season alive. With two wins, the Mavericks will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the first time in program history. Two wins are also vital to Omaha’s NCAA Tournament hopes as the Mavericks are currently No. 18 in the pairwise.
Game one between Omaha and Western Michigan is set for a 6 p.m. CDT faceoff Friday in Kalamazoo, Mich. Game two will follow at the same time on Saturday and if necessary, game three will also start at 6 p.m. CDT on Sunday.
