There remain only a handful of college hockey teams that UNO has never played in its 14-year existence.
For sure, 2010-11 has been a big season for crossing first-time foes off the Mavs' shrinking list.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha opened the schedule by racing past Clarkson 8-0 during its first encounter against the Golden Knights.
In November, the Mavs split an anticipated WCHA series against North Dakota, UNO's only showdown against the Sioux in program history.
And this week, the Mavericks take the ice for the first time against Quinnipiac, traditionally one of the top programs in ECAC Hockey — the same league in which Clarkson competes. The nonconference series takes place Thursday and Friday at Quinnipiac's 3-year-old TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn.
After this series, there will be only six Division I hockey teams — all of them from out East — that UNO hasn't played. They are Sacred Heart of Atlantic Hockey; Northeastern and Vermont of Hockey East; and Brown, Cornell and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from the ECAC.
UNO could've met Quinnipiac at its Mutual of Omaha tournament in 2008. But the matchup never happened because the Bobcats lost to Union College to open the event.
Now that the Mavs and Bobcats are guaranteed to play, UNO coach Dean Blais said his skaters better be ready to match Quinnipiac's relentless style of play. And even though casual fans in the Midwest might not know anything about Quinnipiac, Blais said there's no question that coach Rand Pecknold — who has guided his team to 20 or more wins 10 times in the past 12 years — has built one of the most respected programs in college hockey.
“I know from watching them that they have some quick forwards, and I know Quinnipiac is a team that always plays hard,” said Blais, whose 12-5-1 Mavericks will look to build on the best first half in school history. “We're going to have to find a way to offset that by doing the same thing.”
The Bobcats, who have been off since Dec. 11, closed the opening portion of their schedule by losing five of their last six games. But Quinnipiac (8-9-1) kicked off 2010-11 by going 4-1-0, a stretch that included victories over Ohio State and St. Cloud State.
A year ago, Pecknold's Bobcats were the surprise story of college hockey's first half. The Bobcats won 12 of their first 13 games in 2009-10, culminating in an all-time high ranking of No. 4 in the national polls.
Quinnipiac, however, couldn't keep up that torrid pace in the second half.
The Bobcats ended last season with a 20-18-2 overall record, losing a best-of-three ECAC playoff series against then-No. 17 Union. Quinnipiac still made history as it opened the series with a 3-2, five-overtime victory. That game, which clocked in at 150 minutes, 22 seconds, was the longest ever played in Division I men's hockey.
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