MavRick's UNO Hockey Pages

Parse on Tuesday at the Rink

CSTV.com announced today that UNO forward Scott Parse will be one of the guests for this week’s “Tuesday @ the Rink” chats, presented by CSTV.com and USCHO. Parse, who leads the Mavericks against No. 6 Michigan State this weekend, with Saturday night’s contest airing live on CSTV at 8 p.m. ET, will appear at 1 pm CST. The chat rooms are open now, so fans can submit questions in advance.

posted by Rick @ 4:42 PM 0 comments | links to this post   

Parse Offensive POTW

The CCHA named Scott Parse Offensive Player of the Week.

posted by Rick @ 1:09 PM 0 comments | links to this post   

CCHA Road to the Joe Photo Gallery: UNO/NMU

The CCHA was in town this weekend and took photos to prove it. Thanks to the CCHA, and especially The Dreamy Courtney Welch, for these photos.

posted by Rick @ 10:57 AM 1 comments | links to this post   

UNO Football Rebrands to Omaha

The UNO Football team has adopted a new look for next year. The helmet is deeper than the bright red plain helmet the Mavs have been wearing for a while. The Crimson and Black O is to emphasize the connection with the city:

OWH: "I would like to get as close to what the school colors are as we can," UNO coach Pat Behrns said. "And I'd like to try to bridge a closer connection to the city of Omaha. We are Omaha's college football team."

OWH again: Matching uniforms have not yet been designed, but both Behrns and Titus said "Omaha" would likely replace "Mavericks" on the front, another way to develop the local connection.

UNO Hockey has steadfastly refused to adopt Omaha-centric branding, keeping its hideous Nebraska Omaha logo on its road unis for 10 years and debuting this year's horrendous "crotch arrow" third sweater without any detectable design effort. Maybe football's forward and civic thinking will prompt the hockey Mavs to think about the city they live in too.

posted by Rick @ 9:31 AM 2 comments | links to this post   

Knights Attendance Continues to Suffer

Omaha.com (registration required)

The Omaha Aksarben Knights are slicing their numbers pretty thin to justify their continued existence in Omaha; they say their attendance is 20% ahead of last year, but they averaged 3,271 for the season last year and are averaging 3,129 so far this year. They claim their numbers will jump after mid-season, and to be fair, there's some evidence of that.

Even those numbers, though, are widely believed to be inflated. Whether they represent bought-but-unused seats or what, the Knights simply don't have and won't get the traction they need to thrive here. The local owners, who reportedly foot the bill for operating losses, aren't mentioned much in the OWH story.

The second half promotions like The Famous Chicken (what is this, 1981?) and NASCAR night (how insulting is that?) aren't designed to appeal to the intelligent hockey fan, but since the "Best Fans" campaign widely insulted the intelligent hockey fans in this community, all the Knights have left are NASCAR fans. Unfortunately, the NASCAR set isn't going to want to pay premium ticket prices for a night in an aging facility.

UNO is not doing anything to save itself, what with a mediocre performance to date and worse-than-mediocre (and even worse than usual) bungling at the Sapp Fieldhouse, but it has a core of die-hard fans. Plus, UNO isn't leaving town soon. At some point the Knights local owners will recognize the right and smart thing to do is pull the plug on this ill-conceived effort to bring premium-priced minor-league sports to an oversaturated market for a niche sport.

posted by Rick @ 5:39 PM 2 comments |   

WCH Likes Our Recruits

Western College Hockey ranks UNO's recruiting class 18th in the nation, saying "there's a lot of talent on both offense and defense."

posted by Rick @ 5:54 PM 1 comments | links to this post   

We're #29!

The Mavs received two whole points in the USCHO Division I Men's Poll this week, putting them in a tie for 29th with RIT and behind Sacred Frickin' Heart, who has three times as much. Still, the Mavs' death spiral has arrested itself for now, and UNO finds itself owning a winning record for the first time since the Niagara game.

posted by Rick @ 10:13 PM 1 comments | links to this post   

Parse Wins DEFENSIVE POTW

The CCHA has named Scott Parse Defensive Player of the Week. Clearly he needs to start playing in goal.

posted by Rick @ 11:01 AM 1 comments | links to this post   

BGSU Reporter: Mavs Back In It

Presumably browned-out by the Big 12 Championship game, Omaha.com used the services of Bowling Green reporter Kevin Gordon as a special to the paper. Gordon threw flowers at the feet of the Mavs, calling them "one of the league's most skilled offenses" and "back in the thick of the CCHA race."

posted by Rick @ 10:45 AM 1 comments | links to this post