That one point was earned by the Mavericks back in November
when these two played to a 2-2 tie in Grand Forks. The difference maker in that
shootout victory for UNO was one more save by goaltender Ryan Massa, and by
that slimmest of margins, we bring ourselves to this weekend’s tussle.
The Mavericks lead UND in the conference by that single point,
while the Green and White are ahead in the national polls. Along with their
respective rankings, the two teams are No. 2 and No. 4 in the Pairwise headed
into this weekend’s showdown in Omaha.
What will this weekend bring? No one’s sure, but local media
in Omaha has played this series as the biggest in UNO history, dubbing it “North
Dakota Hate Week.”
If the series lives up to its billing, this should be some
fun hockey tonight and Saturday.
Youth Movement
 |
| UNO sophomore goalie Ryan Massa |
The Mavericks, 15-6-3 overall, are led up front by a dynamic
group of forwards. Sophomore Austin Ortega paces a UNO attack that features
underclassmen as 8 out of their top 10 scorers. Ortega is Omaha’s top point getter
with 25 and his eight game-winning goals lead the country.
The Mavericks are scoring 3.04 goals per game, good enough for
15th.
Although limited to just one start since Jan. 1 due to a
concussion, the UNO sophomore Massa continues the youth leadership between the
pipes.
Massa is 10-3-3 on the year with a 1.99 goals against
average and the nation’s No. 8 save percentage at .936.
Despite the stellar numbers in net, UNO has been very
average this year defensively, allowing 2.46 goals a game, good for just 26th
best in the nation.
Off last week, Omaha split with CC, losing 4-3 and winning 4-1 despite being outshot 28-14, on Jan. 16-17.
A Top Down Team
 |
| UND Junior. Goalie Zane McIntyre |
While it’s UNO’s youth that leads the way for the Mavericks,
UND’s leadership comes from the top.
The Green and White attack features 8 out of 10 scorers
being upperclassmen.
Junior Drake Caggiula continues to carry the team lead inA
points with 26, tied with senior Michael Parks. Fellow senior Mark MacMillan
leads UND in goals with 13. His .62 goals per game mark is good for seventh
best nationally while the team’s 3.48 goals per game is tied for sixth.
UND (18-5-2, 9-4-1 NCHC) earned a sweep last weekend with
2-1 and 5-3 wins over Colorado College. Much
of the credit for last week should go to junior netminder Zane McIntyre.
The Thief River Falls, Minn., native came up huge on Friday
night, making four saves without his goal stick in the last eight minutes to
earn the victory.
On the season, McIntyre’s 18 wins (18-5-2) is the most in
the country while his 1.89 goals against average and .933 save percentage rank
him 10th and ninth nationally.
A Second Look
So much is on the line in this series both in the NCHC and
nationally, so DDC decided to take a deeper delve into the stats.
One particular jumped out – shots. While shots aren’t always an end-all, be-all
statistic, they can certainly tell a story.
Coming into this weekend’s series, UNO is a -110 in shots,
meaning the Mavericks’ opponents have 110 more shots this season. UND is a +90.
Nebraska Omaha is also averaging 30.54 shots allowed a game.
Another statistic that stood noteworthy was special teams. UNO
boasts a subpar 16.4% on the power play, good for 33rd in the
country. UND is 21% with the man advantage, which is 13th. On the
penalty kill, UND is 15 with a steady 86.4% while UNO is 27th at
83.9%.
The Pick
Like DDC said earlier, shots aren’t always the perfect indicator
of team play, but, DDC’s guess … UNO won’t want UND’s 6th best
offense firing 31 shots a game on net this weekend.
It’s easy to expect a high-paced and tight-checking game
this weekend with UNO and former UND head coach Dean Blais and DDC thinks we’ll
see just that.
Omaha came into this season with a young team and a lot of
question marks. Those question marks have turned into consistent, dynamic play.
The new question is, can this continue?
There’s something to say for a team that has seen these
types of series many times and one who’s new to the party. DDC thinks UND’s
experience is what paces the play in this important, NCHC series.
The upperclassmen get it done as North Dakota sweeps and takes ascends to the top spot in the conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment