Fresh off earning a road split against sixth-ranked North Dakota, Omaha this week re-entered the USCHO.com Men’s Division I Poll at No. 19.
But for as competitive as the Mavericks were in Grand Forks, being ranked isn’t just about what you did over the previous week.
This UNO team is as battle-tested as most anyone in the country, in part because 12 of the Mavericks’ 20 games this season have either ended in a tie or were decided by a single goal.
More to the point, UNO is 4-1 in overtime this season. The latest such victory came Friday, when the Mavericks erased three deficits before Jack Randl scored the winning goal 34 seconds into the extra period. UND dropped its fourth consecutive overtime game, excluding the Fighting Hawks’ 4-3 defeat Dec. 30 against the U.S. National Under-18 Team.
UNO wasn’t exactly off the pace Saturday, either. The Mavericks fell 3-1, but coach Mike Gabinet felt unlucky bounces went against his team on North Dakota’s first two goals before former Maverick Cameron Berg scored a late empty-netter.
“Just the way Friday’s game unfolded was pretty impressive in terms of resiliency by the group,” Gabinet said. “The belief was there from the guys, and they kept doing the work.
“We really played well, and North Dakota’s a good hockey team with a lot of good players, but even Saturday it would’ve been nice to take the game to overtime again, and the guys played a solid game.”
Friday’s game was already UNO’s third one in 2024 to reach overtime. On Jan. 5, a Griffin Ludtke goal with 18.2 seconds left in the extra period gave the Mavericks a 5-4 win over UMass-Lowell in the semifinals of the Desert Hockey Classic. The following day, UNO lost 2-1 to 16th-ranked host school Arizona State.
UNO looks increasingly comfortable in those types of games, and Gabinet believes that starts in practice. At least once a week, the Mavericks work to see what might come in handy should another overtime arise.
“It’s sneaky conditioning sometimes, doing 3-on-3 and putting guys in those situations,” Gabinet said. “It’s nice to do at the end of a practice at times, where rather than just skating, you can get some conditioning and test guys getting caught out for a bit of an extended shift.
“I like it from that aspect, and you get to discuss what you’d like to see, whether it’s (line) changes, breakouts, faceoffs, offensive-zone things or stuff for maybe later when either they’re a little more tired, or you’re a little more tired. There are so many different unique situations in terms of numerical advantages, and you don’t always have time to build that into your practice, but it’s important to make sure you spend some time on those.”
Gabinet might want the rest of UNO’s season to be a little less stressful, but for the best of reasons, that’s unlikely. It’s all NCHC play from here on until the NCAA tournament, should the Mavericks get there, and starting with this weekend’s home set against No. 5 Denver, there will be plenty of opportunities for UNO to build on what it has already done.
“I thought we’ve played four really good games since the break,” Gabinet said. “Three of those have been overtime games, but I think we’re doing a lot of good things, and with this group, we just want to build the belief in themselves that they can do it, and they’re doing a great job.
“That’s really important, making sure players believe and keep doing the necessary things. We didn’t get the overtime win at ASU, and we didn’t get the win last Saturday, but we’re doing a lot of good things out there. When we look at video, we can show examples of things we’re doing right and what we can get better at, but that feeds the belief that we’re right on the cusp.”
