Mavericks Enter WCHA Playoffs Ranked 12th in Count
Mar 7, 2011 | General, Hockey
USCHO.com Poll
USA Today Poll
OMAHA, Neb. - For the third straight week, the UNO hockey team is ranked 12th in the weekly college hockey polls. The Mavericks begin the WCHA playoffs on Friday when they host a first-round, best-of-three series against Bemidji State at the Qwest Center.
The Mavericks are coming off a split of two games at Minnesota Duluth last weekend. UNO dropped the first game 4-1 before rebounding for a 5-2 win the following night. The win helped UNO finish the regular season with a record of 21-13-2 and a mark of 17-9-2 in the WCHA, good for third place.
By beating UMD on Saturday, the Mavericks also moved up to seventh in the Pairwise Rankings, the criteria similar to those used to determine seeds for the NCAA playoffs. Sixteen teams are selected to take part in the NCAA playoffs. The Mavericks made their only NCAA appearance in 2006.
Again this week, North Dakota is the top team in the country in both polls, one of seven WCHA teams, including the Mavericks, that are ranked in the top 20. The others include Denver (6), Minnesota Duluth (11), UNO, Colorado College (16), Minnesota (17) and Wisconsin (19).
The Mavericks will host Bemidji State on Friday at 7:37 p.m. and Saturday at 7:07 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will be played on Sunday at 7:07 p.m. Tickets for all games are on sale at the Qwest Center box office, the Sapp Fieldhouse box office and on-line at OmahasTeam.com.
